As the recent rise in tin prices has stimulated interest in new mine supply, the owners of the Narsiin Khundlen project in Mongolia have told ITRI that a modest investment in small ore processing plant would allow them to start production in 2011. The US-Mongolian company Amerilangui Ujin is currently in negotiations with three potential investors to finance a 500 tpd operation which would produce some 1,200 tpy of tin-in-concentrate. Cashflow from the initial operation can then be ploughed back into exploration and development which would allow investment in a larger scale 2,000 tpd operation later.
Amerilangui Ujin acquired a licence for the project in 2007. It includes ten orebodies which are suitable for open pit mining and simple ore treatment. The company carried out a drilling and trenching programme in 2008 to confirm the results of earlier exploration work carried out in the 1980s. The early study by a Soviet/Russian team identified a resource of 57,000 tonnes of contained tin at 0.78% tin, while the latest drilling of some 3,000 metres in 2008 revealed a JORC compliant resource of 7,300 tonnes at an average grade of 0.84%.
