Bolivia’s Vinto smelter will increase refined tin output this year and start on a major expansion programme in 2010, Mining Minister Luis Alberto Echazu told Bloomberg. Vinto will refine at least 10,500 tonnes of tin in 2009, Echazu said yesterday in an interview at the mining ministry in La Paz. Vinto produced 9,544 tonnes of refined metal in 2008.
The smelter, which the government seized from Glencore International AG in February 2007, is investing US$25 million in a new Ausmelt furnace expected to start by the end of 2010, Echazu said. Bolivia plans to settle a compensation deal with Glencore by the end of this year, he said. “In theory, we’ll be able to produce 27,000 metric tons” with the new furnace and the three existing furnaces, Echazu said.
The plant produced 5,517 tonnes of tin in the first half of this year, up 35% on year ago levels, according to official production statistics.
