Ausmelt Ltd has signed the third and final contract, licensing its Ausmelt technology to Empresa Metalurgica Vinto, under a A$4.3 million deal for a new tin smelter at Oruro in Bolivia. The contract covers the supply of equipment and site services. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange on 22 August Ausmelt said that basic engineering design for the new Ausmelt furnace is progressing well and is scheduled for completion in October.
The original contacts for the expansion and modernisation of the plant were signed in February, on the first anniversary of the nationalisation of the smelter in February 2007. The new Ausmelt plant will have an annual capacity of 38,000 tpy of concentrates or 18,000 tpy of refined metal. Actual refined tin production at Vinto in January-June 2008 was 4,090 tonnes.
