China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has set 2011 mining quotas for several minor metals, Reuters reported, increasing the permitted output of tungsten, tin, antimony, molybdenum and rare earths by between 5% and 12%. The announcement on MIIT’s website establishes new quotas for tin and molybdenum, but re-iterates ones already announced by the Ministry of Land and Resources for the other metals. In the case of tin MIIT’s quota for tin mine output has increased by 12% from 65,000 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate in 2010 to 73,000 tonnes for this year.
ITRI’s understanding is that the tin quota, which is allocated by province, is for general guidance in planning rather than a strict policy with penalties. Officially reported production of tin-in-concentrates last year was 83,636 tonnes, well above the MIIT quota, while a separate quota for tin used by the Ministry of Land and Resources is 150,000 tonnes. However the announcements by the ministries and other official bodies this year all point to increasing efforts to conserve resources and limit energy consumption.
