Yunnan Tin to Expand Mine Production

SHANGHAI, Jun. 24 -- Yunnan Tin Group, the world's largest tin producer, aims to at least double tin ore throughput from its Laochang ore field to 3,000 tonnes per day over the next nine years, Reuters reported. The company is planning a three-stage process for the expansion of Laochang field, its largest mine, chief engineer Sun Guoxiang said in a statement. In the first stage, it plans to take the mine's ore treatment rate to 1,500 tpd by 2012, it said. Second-stage expansion will take output to 2,000 tpd by 2014, and the "strategic goal" of 3,000 tpd is to be achieved by 2019, it said.

The Laochang mine, located near Gejiu in Yunnan province, is the company’s largest and oldest mine. Meanwhile it also plans to boost its mine production by the development of the Wuchangping project in Hunan province. It has also recently acquired a 50% stake in the Tasmanian operations of Australia’s Metals X. Yunnan Tin produced 55,898 tonnes of refined tin in 2009, but more than half of its production came from purchased raw materials.