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NEWS

Aus Tin revisits roots

In some respects, Aus Tin TIN COBALT
Mining Ltd can claim to be
ahead of the game when 22000
speaking about cobalt. 55000

The company was listed 50000

on the back of the Mt Co- 20000 45000
balt project, 40km west of
Gympie, Queensland, in

2010 and managed to sur- 18000 40000
vive the cull when Peter 35000
Williams took the helm as
chief executive of the then

AusNiCo in 2013. 30000
“We divested quite a 16000

number of nickel projects. 25000
I held onto Mt Cobalt be-

cause I quite like it,” Wil- 14000 20000
liams told Paydirt recently. Apr 2016
Jun 2016 Aug 2016 Oct 2016 Dec 2016 Feb 2017
“We had a programme
of work lined up at Mt Co- SOURCE: TRADINGECONOMICS.COM

balt last year, and I might Cobalt prices have risen about 65% since the start of the year to almost $US55,000/t, while tin has

add that this was before ranged between $US18,760/t and $US22,225/t so far this year

things started to get quite

frothy in cobalt. We put out some drilling Cobalt, which Aus Tin will investigate fur- “I think we were predicting four years

results with grades of 0.8% cobalt which ther this quarter. ago that tin prices were going to go

is pretty good for this particular type of The Pembroke nickel-copper sulphide through the roof, as the San Rafael mine

mineralisation. target, 1km south of Mt Cobalt, will also in South America [Peru] was in its twilight

“I think there is actually a broader play receive some attention in light of higher- years and there were forecast supply

there in terms of a nickel-cobalt play grade mineralisation – 2m @ 0.1% co- shortages,” Williams said.

and perhaps one that the company had balt, 0.61% copper, 0.35 g/t gold and “We have seen a modest increase

originally contemplated where you have 1.77% nickel from 70m – detected from in demand but certainly there were

a lateritic cover over a sulphide target. previous drilling. many people forecasting tin to go to

Perhaps that is one that we will need to While feeling more enthused about the $US50,000/t but Myanmar came along

investigate further and focus on the co- nickel-cobalt potential in Queensland, in and brought a whole lot of tin back into

balt and potentially develop the cobalt to Tasmania, Aus Tin has some work to do the market.”

help fund the larger target,” he said. at the Granville tin project. Nevertheless, demand for tin is stead-

Aus Tin has made the first steps to- News that the recovery of finer tin from ily growing and the trend is expected to

wards determining the opportunity it has the circular jig was lower than expected continue, particularly as new applica-

at Mt Cobalt, indicating it will reassess has not been well received and a series tions for tin in the energy storage and

historical inferred resources for both of modifications were scheduled to be generation sectors are ever increasing

nickel and cobalt at the project. made at the time of print. and supply from major producing coun-

Inferred resources at Ridley (580,000t Despite the setback, Aus Tin is con- tries China and Indonesia is declining.

@ 0.9% nickel and 0.08% cobalt) and tinuing with the approvals process for “At some point the supply is going to

Jackson North (220,000t @ 0.8% nickel expansion of Granville, which entails re- drop away as we have seen, particularly

and 0.05% cobalt), 3km south-east of suming mining at the high-grade open pit in Indonesia, their annual production has

Mt Cobalt, were compiled 10 years ago and increasing in-concentrate produc- been progressively dropping over a pe-

but were considered small compared to tion to 550 tpa contained tin. riod of time,” Williams said.

other lateritic nickel projects. The Tasmanian EPA was undertak- “We are seeing LME stocks dropping

Therefore, there was no compelling ing the final assessment of the Devel- pretty dramatically. Earlier in the year

reason for the company to undertake any opment Proposal and Environmental they were down around 3,500t, they then

more significant work at the time, how- Management Plan at the time of print. popped back up to 5,000t and I think they

ever, a review of data from the 1970s, Concurrently, Aus Tin was also await- are down around 3,500t again. That only

uncovered intersections in the ilk of 14m ing approval to develop a trial mine and represents a couple of weeks of sup-

@ 0.1% cobalt and 1.12% nickel from sur- pilot processing plant at the Taronga tin ply, so it is pretty modest. On the back

face and is encouragement for Aus Tin to project, New South Wales. of all that we would expect prices to rally

follow up. The tin price has yet to break strongly but I think Myanmar is still in the

In the meantime, results from the nine- through the $US22,000/t mark (about mix and I suspect the Indonesians are

hole programme completed last year $US20,000/t at the time of print) it sitting on a bit more tin, so I don’t neces-

targeting cobalt-enriched asbolite within touched late last year and it is well off the sarily see the tin price skyrocketing.”

a lateritic cover, included 7m @ 0.84% highs some in the industry were forecast- – Mark Andrews
cobalt and 0.83% nickel from 29m at Mt ing just a few years ago.

PAGE 16 MAY 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT