Itri reported that Bolivia’s Empresa Metalurgica Vinto has signed contracts with Ausmelt Ltd of Australia for the construction of a new tin smelter at EMV’s Oruro plant. Contracts worth AUD 3.6 million have already been signed and a further one for AUD 4.5 million for equipment and site services is expected to follow shortly.

As per report the smelter will have an annual capacity of 38,000 tonnes per year of concentrate or 18,000 tonnes per year of tin metal. This will be the second Ausmelt plant to be used by a major South American tin producer, as the technology is already used by Peru’s Funsur. China’s Yunnan Tin also uses Ausmelt technology.

Mr Francisco Infantes general manager of Empresa Metalurgica Vinto said the Bolivian government had previously announced plans to modernize the plant, at a total cost of USD 15 million. He said “This project is very important for us as this will be the first modernization after more than 30 years from the start up of the Vinto complex. This will put us in a position to favorably compete with other international modern tin smelters.”

The Ausmelt furnace will replace existing reverberatory furnaces, which may possibly used to treat other metals. Vinto produced 9,400 tonnes of tin in 2007. Full utilization of the new plant will require increased supplies of tin concentrates from Comibol’s Huanuni mine and other sources.