Yunnan Tin to spend $566m on relocation of smelter

Chinese tin producer Yunnan Tin Company (YTC) plans to spend 3.5 billion yuan ($566 million) to move its main smelting facility from Gejiu city, in order to comply with the Chinese government’s environmental policies.

Of this total, plant construction is expected to cost about 1.9 billion yuan.

YTC – which is the world’s largest tin producer – will move its smelting facility to the Mengzi Economic Development Zone in Yunnan province.

Its new copper and lead smelters are already located there, and it plans to upgrade the tin smelter to a 70,000-tpy plant. The relocation project is expected to take three to five years to finish.

The company’s existing tin plant, which underwent major upgrade work with the installation of an Ausmelt furnace in 2002, is situated within Gejiu city.

Under the entry requirements for the tungsten, tin and antimony industries, set out by the Chinese National Development & Reform Commission in 2006, smelters that are within 1km of residential areas must be relocated.

Claire Hack 
chack@metalbulletin.com
Twitter: @clairehack_mb