The global commodities market is witnessing notable changes, with significant price movements in copper and tin, signalling a potential shift in investment trends within the resources sector.
Copper, traditionally seen as an economic health indicator, has broken free from its previous price stagnation.
In the tin market, there is a quiet yet significant ascent in prices, reflecting its strategic importance, especially in the technology sector where it is used for soldering in circuit boards.
The International Tin Association has emphasised the urgent need for substantial investment in tin production to meet the forecasted demand surge, estimating a requirement of US$1.4 billion to augment annual tin output by 50,000 tonnes by 2030.
Furthermore, the price increase in tin is influenced by geopolitical tensions and production issues in major tin-producing areas, highlighting the metal's critical role in the global supply chain.
Tin prices have rebounded to around US$28795 a tonne, a 9.10% increase since the beginning of 2024, primarily due to threats to supplies from key producers and the demand outlook turning positive (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Tin prices (Source: Trading Economics)
In the spotlight: Venture Minerals
In the spotlight is Venture Minerals’ Mount Lindsay Project in north-western Tasmania, hosting one of the largest undeveloped tin projects globally and boasting over 80,000 tonnes of tin metal and a significant tungsten resource.
Its strategic importance is amplified by the Australian Government's enhanced focus on critical minerals, demonstrated by the expansion of the critical minerals’ facility to A$4 billion and the inclusion of tin in the new strategic materials List.
Consequently, the Australian Government has recognised the project as a critical minerals project, underscoring its national and global significance, especially in light of the burgeoning demand for metals crucial to the technology and energy sectors.
This governmental support aligns with the growing acknowledgment of tin's vital role in the battery revolution and new technological applications (Figure 2)
Figure 2: Metals most impacted by new technology (Source: International Tin Association)
About the project
Venture owns 100% of the tenure that hosts the Mount Lindsay Tin-Tungsten Deposit and the surrounding prospects.
The project sits between the world-class Renison Bell Tin Mine (Metals X Ltd/Yunnan Tin Group) and the Savage River Magnetite Mine, which has been operating for more than 50 years, currently producing approximately 2.5 Mtpa of iron pellets (Figure 2).
Mount Lindsay has excellent access to existing infrastructure, including hydropower, wind power, water, sealed roads, and rail and port facilities.
The Mount Lindsay deposits and the surrounding exploration target areas are all defined as skarn-style mineralisation and are closely analogous to well-known large skarn deposits in Russia and China, which contain the same borates that exist at Mount Lindsay.
Figure 3: Location map of Mount Lindsay Tin-Tungsten Deposit, Riley Iron Ore Mine & Livingstone DSO Deposit. (Source: Venture Minerals Limited)
Moving forward
Venture has engaged Curtin University to kick off the next stage of metallurgical test work on the Mount Lindsay tin-rich borates.
The program will investigate the extraction of tin, boron, and iron from tin-iron borates, potentially significantly increasing the tin recovery and producing a high-value boron by-product, resulting in another revenue stream for the Mount Lindsay project (Figure 4)
Venture believes the inclusion of tin-rich borates into the current Underground Feasibility Study could deliver a major economic benefit, through the recovery of boron and additional tin and iron.
Boron is now included in the European Commission’s Critical Raw Material Act and is considered vital to the green energy transition.
In addition to boron’s use in solar panels, up to 50kg of boron material is required in the construction of Electric Vehicles.
Figure 4: Mount Lindsey Geology map (Source: Venture Minerals Limited)
A word From Samso
The Venture Minerals story is one that is well known to anyone who has been following the Coffee with Samso series. Andrew Radonjic, the Managing Director of Venture Minerals has been a recurring guest on the Coffee with Samso series of videos.
The Mt Lindsay project has been the main focus for the company and there is a great amount of value in the project. The tin price falling back from a sharp rise in 2022 (Figure 5) has given tin companies a shock to the system. However, there does appear to be some resemblance of a recovery.
Figure 5: Tin prices over a 25-year range in USD/T. (Source: Trading Economics)
The consensus within the commodity and mining fraternity is that the next boom in pricing is near and the next growth will be more sustainable. I am one with these narratives and I do feel that the next period of growth will be from the "New Age" related metals. I don't want to call them EV metals as I am a firm believer that the metals that will make a difference in the new Clean Energy Environment are the metals that have been largely ignored during the "lithium" time.
My thoughts are that the new age metals are all about the new technology and a revolution to go from the "Old Ways" to the "New Ways" in terms of transportation and infrastructure. The need to be more efficient is also going to be a driver in terms of stronger and lighter materials etc.
If the tin price starts to come back, Venture is going to have two fronts running in the New Age environment.
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