6

STRUCTURE OF THE WORLD TIN INDUSTRY

Di,Fox
The discovery of bronze, an alloy of tin and copper. over (five thousand years
ago, gave man the power so advance beyond the Stone Age and attached a value so tin
which It has never lost Throughout history, the prospect of finding fresh deposit: of tin
has drawn miners and traders into the distant corners of the known world The separation
of mine from market, of producer from consumer, is n long-established trait of the world
tin industry.
The sources of the tin traded today lic almost exclusively in the tropics and its
desnnations are virtually confined to the temperate world a cese of the developing world
responding to the demands of the hLdUltrIaliZcd world, Such a clear-cut dichotomy
endows the trade In tin with a political importance Dol shared by aU metals. it as not
byaccideni that tin Ii the subject of the most successful, must durable and most
comprehensive intcz-gove.rnmcntal commodity agreement reached to date, a pncce
agreement designed to mitigate the harsher aspects of world trade in raw materials, The
agreement is particularly Important since tin Is unusual in possessing a market which has
grown more slowly than that of almost any other metal in recent years while, at the same
time, the economics of a number of 1m- port.ual producing countries depend very
heavily opon their taies of tin un the world nuuket.
Tin Is one of the raser of the common elements in the earths crust, as scarce as
uranIum or tungsten. Lead is seven times, copper thirtyoeven and turc fifty. five tunes as
abundant. Areas of the earths crust physicitUy rich in tin from belts of differing
geological ages In which the tin has distinctive characteristics and afliliatious. One such
belt now att-,iddl.s the south-eastern coast of South Amities atad the once contiguous
south-weitcrn coast of Africa; It runs north wards to embrace Rio Grande do Sul an
Brazal. Nigeria end perhaps the con centrations of tin in Iberia. A eacond belt runs
though Cen4ral Africa from Natal to Uganda parallel to that of the Atlantic A third
originates In the elbow of the Andes and indudes Bolivia, Runaidnima, Guyana, and
perhaps extendi to the Ailas mountains ht North Africa Bolivia ii also pan of the great
circuns Pacific tin belt which begins in the Argentine. foliowi (he line of the Andes, and
extends by way or the Central Mexican deposits and those of the western cordLlleia of
North America. to riso down the Seward peninsula in Alaska and to tonnirnate in northeastern Sbaria. A second arc of the belt runs from the Yannan province of China
southwards though Batuta and Thailand co Malaysia, Indonesia and, perhaps, to coastal
Aualr,slia

The duce European tui bdts that which mdudes Galicia, Brittany and
Cornwall; that which runs from the Masiif Centrale to Tuscany; imd that of the
Ersebirgo are arversl orders of size beLow those of the Pacific rim. These broad
geographical and geological associations define the context in which the
economic deposits of Un have been wogkod (n the past and die present and
circumscribe the situations in which th. economic resane; of the future are likely
to be found.
TIN PODIJCTION
Tin deposits which have proved their economic worth are confined to certain
parts of their tinitCh belts. A digest of current production figures Is offered in 1
able 6d which cleady show; the dominance of a few countries. A high degree of
concentration upon a few sources has been a lasting feature of the international
tin picture. A century ago, Cornwall was still tite single moSt linpoilant tinfield
and, together whit the new Australian minet, prodiwed half the worlds tin; the
long.established workings In Mslaysia and the Dutch East Indics ac counted for

four-fifths of the remainder. By the end of the 19th century output had more than
doubled and Malaysia had won the premier position ah. has main tained (except
during the Japencec occupation bi World War It) ever since. With the Dutch East
lndI (now Indonesia) and Thailand. di. war responsible for three quartera of the
tin reaching the world markets. The advent of BoLivia sa a major producer
slightly dIminIshed the hegemony of South-cast Asia but the nomuil pattern haa
been for two-thirds of all tin pwduccd to emanate from this corncf of the world.
Malayais alone has met one-third of the worlds require. menti of rin during the
20th century. It Is difficult, If not Impossible, lo find a parallel amongst otht nonferrous metals of such a long period of dominance of a significant metal market
by a single country. Another remarkable festute of Table 6.1 ii the complete
absence of any significant production by the United States: this deficiency gives
tin a strategic importance not shared by many other metals.
Within Malaythi the main lin belt runs on s strip about 64)0 km long and
80 km wide between the Main Rangc with Ita granite core and the west coast
Almost all the tin worked is allumial ne clurtal material: there la ope Important
lude mine. The Kinta Valley notth of Kuala Lumpur remains the focus of ruining
and his provided half the tin to come out of Malayaia It was known as a source ut
tin to Arab writers In the ninth century and Chinese were mining tin in Malaysia
well before the modern period. It was fighting between rivai Malay, Thai, and
Chinear cniners which brought British intervention in l87. With Intervention came
rapid change: the first steam engine used in the mining industry was intro duced
n 1877 and the first European mining company in the Lima Valley was
launched five years later. In the azly 20th century there weta about 250.000
romera, mainly Chinese. working the tinfields of Malaysia. It was the adoption

in 1906 by Chinese mincrs of. European idei minIng by gravel pumps

using monitor jets that prowd on. of tise spurs to the expansion or produchon
in the 20th centuty. The secoad lnnov.tion. again horn Eutope, was the arrival In
1912 of the fIrst tm dredge. Deedgisig had long been uied in mining other
ofluvtal ores. parncubrly gold. Th. more capitai-intensave requirements of dredg
mg kepL tlth pan of he industry mainly under the control of European corn panics
wltezeai the cheaper. smaUer-acale more flexible gravel-pump operations
rmsjiieJ Lkr.Iy in Chinese hands. By the late 1930s Euiopean compenses had
grown to account for two-thirds of Malayas Un output; early growth in pro duction

from dredges was achieved by lncresing th. number of dredges; after the l920s it
was achieved by incosasing the iizr of the average dredge.
The Sedond World War, subsequent guerilis activity and the wariness of
the Lundn capital market and the International mining companies to invest in an
independent MaLaya. dealt heavier blows to the dredging side of the industry
than to th. gravel-pump sector. Certainly by 1977 only one4hisd o the coon trys
tin was being won (soin dredges, compared with one-half from the less
mechanized, yet more resilient. Chinese-owned sectioss of the Industry. [hiring
1978 the gravel-pump operators were able to react quickly to lake advantage of
the except ionaUy high tin prices with a speed of response ieemingly not open to
the dredge companies.
Malaysia illustrates one of the features of tise tin mining Industry which dis
tinguishes it from thai of mort other metal industries. That la the tarp numbr of
working units of diverse ownership. The dispersed nature of the alluvial depoiits
cieaxly helps to perlmnet variety of mdepessdent operations. Even within the
pattern of company ownership no real move towards a private monopoly has
eves emerged In the early 1960. the Anglo-Oriental group of companies providcd
about 25 per cent of the countrys output and the top tbre group. 45 per cent;
yet the leadllng 35 compsnics 1 1972 were recponsjble for only 40 pew cent of
MaIaysi. tan and Lue hugest cingle unit supplied his than one-twcnth of the
national total. The weakening posttson over the last qusner century of the
companies, vis a - vis the Chinear,
helped to preserve what elsewhere mht be called a relatively ungructut,d
situation.
This altutlon began to changc in the 1970. as. new Indigenous element,
the Malaysian goveruuen enttred the arena. hi 1976 the Malaysian Mining Cor.
porazion (MMC), a holding company who.. ock Is jointly owned by the Malaysian
gowrnmern (71 per cent) and Charte, Consolidated (24 per cent), bought out the
holdasgr of the L.oadon Tin Corporation, which included the Anglo.OzjenaJ group
In Malaysia, and the holdings of Associated Mines By 1979 MMC was not only
produdsig 30 per cent of Malaysias tin but was opec. sting two compenle In
Thailand and had Inherited interests in Neria. The Internal significanc, of this
grouping extends beyond the first entries as pwincipaj characters of the
government and ola multina(ksgil onto the tin minkig stage. In 1979 MMC was
actively entering 1mo joint mining development projects with tite separate states
within the Malaysin Federation, thereby deepening the in vohement of public
flind In the Malaysian tin Industry. It was also entesing th busineai of selling tin
directly to customers In violation of the practice normal In tin, but unusuaj In
many other metals, of selling through the established metal nisxiets n Penang,
London and llew York.
Tin production in nQoneu,z s more reitricted In loctlon. almost all comes
from two luanda, Bangka and Bclitung (ftl1IiLo) off the east coast of Sumatgij et
the southern end f the great train of commercial Llnilelds of Seuth.cgi Asia. The
Bangka dcposits have yielded approximately Iwo-thirds of Indonesias output
since working first bcgasi 250 years ago and continu, to do so today, Since 1900
lndonealia and Bolivia hse run joint seconds In the world Lin production stakes,
aLthough Indonesian production during th. last qua f-a-century has fluc. tuated
more wkiely than has that of Bolivia. lndonecicn ore, Like Malaysian, is alniost
entirely alluvU ind has reLied on a largely Chinese labor force: niechan. lzation of
the industry by the adoption of the gravel pump and the dredge cam, In the
1920t, little later than Ui 1.lalaysaa, but the teChnok,.y soon conquered the

hand-pick asid booiied production If not employment. Dredges and gravel pumps
continue today tu susie production in equal proportions. It Is note. worthy that
two.clurda of the csirsei,t dredge production comes from oftshote dpoit.s, a
source more sillortant In lnduiiesi. than In any of the other tlnflelds of the woild
titrer-quartera of the tin taken on land Is from gravel pumps. It is not only In the
ubst.sn,tlaJ expliiltuijun of offshore depoiits that lndon. mining differs from
Mslayiiaii. A major distinction lies In the very long history of government
ilwotvement In the lndoniaji Industry. It began In 1722 when the Dutch
obtained a monopoly of trade in the metal, and expanded when the Goverrusiem
ut lue t)ulcli heat Indies took over the llangka nunca In 1816. Subsequently, the
Dutch Ihlliton Company obtained a minority thareholding In the itate mining
Cnterprise and, in effect, operated the usias until Lndoncasn be. came
lnciependcrn In 1959. The Dutch connection, a symbol of the oLd colonial 8ays,
was severed, at least temporarily, during the late l95O,sind ownership of the
Indonesian tin industry was completely vested in the new state. For a variety of
reasons. sorne tecludoil broust about by a loss of metallurgical and men agerie!
expertise on the natlonalizstjon of the minee, some political including the
pogroms against the Chinese and the irnpogttion of insensitive army control, arid
others more obviously reflecting a national etonomy on the slide, 1m penduction
plummeted; it reached a low point of below 1 300 tonnes in 1966. Since then
joint ventures with foreign companies have been encouraged, new tin dredges
(Including the largest In the world) have come Into commission, and freak ofT
shore tin reserves have been discovered. Production In 1978 was over twice that
In 1966 and the portents for a continued Improvement. at least an the ihort term,
appear good.
thailand has pioduted as much tin as Indonesia during the lati decade,
almost ail of it from alluvial SZLC! eluvial deposits smilar to those of neighboring
Malaysia. Yet as recently as the 1950e her output was only one-third of that of
Indonoala ano in the first quarter of this century it was only one-quarter. This
slower, if steadier, pace of development may seem surprising In view of Thai
lands early (1907) spphcation of offshore dredging. An explanation probably lies
In the greater reluctant.-. until recently of luropean and American companies to
invest in always-iisdepqwiens Thailand rache, than in ihe seemingly more secure
crtwh,lc colonic fur-titer south. But wha:evcy Investment abc loa before World
War II. Thailand was spared the aometunes painful arijurtments to political
imdependencc required of ail her neighbuti and hat tin mining industry liria
boomed. lii LISe meanwhile the tin dredges, which ai. lit thc main creatures of
the larger, often European.owned, companies, reduced their shame of pro
duction from ove: half In the 1950i to less than a quarter in the 1970e. And, as in
Malaysia and tsidonesjs, the smaller. generally Chinese-owned, gravel pump and
hydraulicking operators expanded output to the extent that in the late 1960s Lhy
aecountcd for iw4hlids uf aU production. lint today their fraction Is only one-third
as a new category of producer has arrived on the scene. This is the suction boat.
There are now probably about 3.200 Suction boats WOSItISI5 the tin-rich bed of
the Andaman Sea. Moat are domestically owned and worked by small-time
operators -. eIther Thai or ethnic Chinese hoping to maite a quick forttanc
Until recently those who made their fortunes frequently did so by Irnuegling their
concentrates overseer, thereby avoiding lhal domestic taxes. Indeed, the sharp
rue (by so estImated 25 pce cent) In tin production fIgures for Thsfl,ind beLween
1977 and 1978 may be mainly because of much stricter policing of the mining
waters. In spite of the aemnlngly favorable trend in Thai tin production brought
about by the adveist of the suction boats, the relatively low recovery rates (40
pse cam) of material sorted by these boats is a source of concern to the olfici of

the hi g-cstabbhed Mlnsst,y of Mines. In their eyes the boats arc depleting
reservea which might be wos ted mure efficiently by dredges. The role of the
Thai government in the tuning industry is incuaing ft has become rcluant to
renew the off-thor. leases of toreige.oiwned dredging comparues and the official
Off-thor. Mining Organisation M acquiring an in creasing proportion of tho.e
loases. The old for.lgo-own.d companies am rapidly becoming mese contractors
for the Off-eJioz. Mining OrganizatIon, whil. otlwr. aje going into junior partnership
with Thal.owned companies
The tin mines of Burma continue the tin boit northwards. PToduciion
teachcd an annual level of 6,000 tonnes before World War H. but the Industry kas
never really recovered from the disruptions of the Japanese Invasion and postwar si dependence and 1. InsignIficant today. Neither hav, the formerly Frenchowned tuinas la Laos b-ecu able (o recover thai, tuG capacity under conunustlsm.
The other major pcoducu its South-east Asia k Dune with in estimated
output of about 20,000 tonnes per year. Although the deposits arc extensIons of
the Malay-Thai tin belt and lic in the contuguous parts of Southern China,thcre
are many signilicam differences thai distinguMh the Chinese tin Industry from
that of na ncighbori In the fini instance only the minorIty (40 per cent) of tin Is
won from alluvial deposits. These ais th. deposits of the eastern tin zone in the
Fuhochung diitiict of Kwangsi province. Dredges aro few and good gravel pump.
arr raso: the technical level of operations la st test twmty years behind that of
Malaya. The reasons for this backwardne are fairly obvious. Malaya, Thailand asid
lndoncaia collared most of the European capital that went into the mochan.
iZaLaufi of alluvial mining In South-east Asia in the firwi third of the century. By
the guite titase otites demands had been sated the SinoJapaneso war had begun
arid, sa aubeaquenL rvefltS In China here shown, tite opportunity for outside
capital had been lost, perhaps fat good. The majority (60 per cent) of Chinas tin
is won frisen lode mines in the lCitchiu asca of Southern unnan, The minci reach
depths of 900 meten underground and conditions arc primitive by the standards
of Cornwall. In 1938 the nines employed about 00,000 mon to produce about
10,000 tonnes of aaleable tin. Since Work! War Il snd the corn munlt revolutIon
only fraajncniasy information has become available about the industry, much of
it collated by the US Bureau of Mines. The expectation k thai the application of
expertise won in the Iode mine, of CornwaU and Bolivia and on the dredges of
Malaya could usefully be employed to increase cuITent production substantially.
And with the Chines, openly see&ing overseas technical assistance, not only can
expanded paoduction be anticipated but aho a lifting of the mitts that shroud our
knowledge of her tin Industry.
The other Asiatic producer about which less is knoe,n than one would wish
a, of course, Svjeg Slbe,ta. The best available estimate of current produc*ion Is.
again, provided by the US Bureau of Mines which believes that the USSR pro
duucd 33,500 tonnas of tin In 978, a ris, of 3,550 tonnes alisar 1974. These
figures placo the USSR in second place in the 1978 mcrrusllunal production table
Filly years ago Soviet production was neglIgible say between 1.000 and 3,000
tonnes and the present output has been generated by an intensive ex
pbration program and a disregard loi mining costa which could be prohibitive en
a free market economy.
Bolivia offers the closest parallel to the hsrth working conditions In th. tin
fl.lda of the USSR High aithude negater the azxwlioxating effects of low latitud..
Bl.itrlan miners work In ha cold, oxygen-starved environment of the high Aisdeari
euriulilersi. Few muses ir. below is. 4,000 ni contour line and some are above the
pezmaiLeut wuwlitie. the liLountaina are arid cud treeless. As in the USSR, most

of the tin comes from underground minci and many of the veins age Lean and
unwilling to release their tin. It Ilotivia that has been squeezed out of seeond
place In the production stakes by the USSR, f the American climate of Soviet
production in 1978 is concct. In recent years Soviet tech nology has been
Imported in an attempt to cese soro, of the tin mining problems of Bolivia. but
the metallurgIcal problems are difficult bi both countries. BoUvia appears o.r thi
lop In her ability to produce tin whereas the trend of Soviet pruduction Is
upwards.
Harsh conditions mean that mining Is a seasonal task in many of the
three-to five thoussod workings of the aocalled smell miners. Such seasonal
mining operations usually (onu an adjunct to peasant farming. Although oniy
respon cible for nine per cent of Bolivias tin production In 1978 this pruutithe
sectkin of the mining economy accounts for half the minen listed In the counuya
lome- what hazy employment figures. They arc a category of miner which would
be an anachsoriinn an almost any other mining country the methods employed
are thoee described by Agrlcola and familiar, for example, to the mcdlacval
tinners of Devon and Cornwall.
The great bulk (70 pci cent in 1978) of Bolivian tin is won from
crsnunercial minci employing methods and equipment more in keeping with
IloLivias position s one of the worlda leading suppLiers of tin during the 20th
century. Many of these manes aie direct descendants of the silver mines which
made Upper Peril famous in colonIa] days. They are mines which were revitalized
by a new breed of lo-cal entrepreneurs who rose to the foes In the heady days of
the frit half cat the century when fortunes were woo by applying the technology
of, in particular. British hard-rock tin mining to the fat ores of Andean lolivuu
Simon PitilLo is the most famous. His fortune was founded on his titi mines at
Catasi, Huanuni and CoLquiri; he subsequently broadened hia intcitsis to include
half the worlds tin smelting capacity and added financial holdings in Malsyan
and other tin companies. The other Bolivian mining empires of Araniayo and
l4,,chdulld were of domestic Importance but are remembered now only by
assocl.atton with that of PatLo. The nationalization of the Big Three mining
groups was aria of the many and early accomplishments of the Bolivian Revol
Ution oC 1952. The Corporacin Minera de Bolivia (Comibo!) formed to run lhcac
misses has had s trouble-racked history, partly because of misfortune and
inherited difficulties, partly through difficulties of tu own making. The tinner were
in poor state when nationalized; the removal of sources of capital and overScaa
technical assistance and the inhlidsig of early peonia to help builds fledgling oil
industry compounded early problems. Comibol. responsible for over half the
countrys expon income, was rescued from the brink of bankruptcy In the tate
1950a only by accepting substantial Injectiuns of American aid and direction: the
coutrolling position that the Bolivian minen ununs had gamed in the affairs of
Comlbol was aserificed on the altar of national economic survival. The miners
have remained the most iniportant body of organized labor in th. country and s
political force with which suocosalve government: have always had to reckon.
Some have chosen to rol. by niartial law; others have bought peace with hiIhcr
wages. Higher wages have sometimes coincided with a fortuitous flac Ii world lin
pisces; al other times payment has only bien possible m a devalued bolivian
currency, such lathe importance of Liii In the life or Bolivia.
in no other country Is the tin industry ascii a potent political, iodai and
cOnonaic force. The difficulty for Comibol, sa for the country, Is to balance the
icqulreinents of efficient tin mining under the conditions hid down by the world
tin market with tise role of the tin InduStry as the only mgniflcant source of

external wealth in an npoverlahed economy. The facts that Comibol has not
fallen victim to the vicissitudes of the last 27 years and that the Bain, handful of
mine, have continued in production. are reniarkable tributes to their powers of
survival. But whatever the relative successes of the pasi, Comibul Is soon to face
a severe test. The great underground mine at Catavi is running out of ore. over
half.a-century Catasi has bien the worlds largest tin mine and alone has
accounted for over ozsequarter of Bolivias production. But Ita premier position
Is about to be overtaken by the Resisan Bell miste lis Australjs. Thq average
grade of ore leaving the Bolivian mine has fallen from th. already low figure of
0.53 par cant in 973 to averag, only 039 per cent In 1978;Catavi lost $8 million
in 1978. Drilling to test the possibility of turning It over to opcn.casl mining has
shown thai even thIs final solution Is not open to Comibol. The latter has nothing
tu take Catavis place, cither in the tin economy or as a source of employment
for the 30900 dependent upon the mine.
There is no wbetantial commercial private mining sector to soak up
unwanted labor and to make good lust prmhsctton. There are about li private tin
mining conipisnies in Bolivia and titis asctcn has proved Itself remarkably
resilient in recen years. It haz demonstrated an innovative ability not paralleled
In the state sector and is. in general, a more efficient producer of ore. The most
remarkable success of recent years hes been the re.introductlon of tin dredging,
liraI amongst the gravels of the Pazna vallcy md secondly n 1h. even less
hospitable canyon uf the Pilcomayo. But dredging will never play anything but a
minor ru1 In what Is essentially a traditional lode mining country. Although the
betttz.nin mines have a history of capitat and technical expertise supplied from
British and American sources, It has been noticeable over the last decade that
these exogen ous lies have been weakened. In particular, the W.R. Gracc
Company has deliber ately divested itself of ita Bolivian rimming propertie. which
have been taken over by indigenous Bolivian interest
Brazil, to the chagrin of her smaller neighbor, has mol only daicovered
substantial depoests of eluvial tin just acrose Bolivias eastern frontier in
Amazonia, but has been successful in otuacnng capital with which to develop
them. The deposit. axe associated with granites younger than those In Bolivia;
they are situated in the hot, low-lying selva of the Amazon forests. Once made
accessibLe by feeder macla from the new trans-Amazon highway system User. k
little technical diffi culty in exploiting the Brazilian deposits and her ptuductron of
tim-in-can centrares is six timcs what ri was a mere decade aso. although still
only one- third of that of Bolivia. Development began In the Laie 1960s with a
tm-rush ut kLdivldIal garimpc-iros soon repBo.d by the more syuematw and, by
Ampli cation, Lesa wasteful, nwchanlcaj working of the deposits by iubatantil
mining canporatlona. These companies included WR. Grace, BiUitoxs. end the
Petifto interests in ConjUncuon with the national development bank (8NDE). la
1979 tIte geographical asca worked for tin by mechanical mining was extended
beyond Ronsioftia to the Alto Xlngu region and to Nova Roma in Cous:. Cymes
feu that the new black tin coming out of the forests, like the naturel rubber and
Brazil nut brought out earlier this century, will provide only a fleeting bonanza to
these remote regions.
The other tin producer in the sanie class as lirazil is Auth-aura, It, too,
produced between lLOD(J and 120() tonnes of tin-in-c.onccnlratcs In I978.
AustraLia, tOo, WSS producing much more than (in fact, twice as much as) a
decade ago and war expecting to continue to expand production. Ai in Brazil. all
tin mining in Ausir,ila la in the hands uf pxivate companies, marty with outside
financing. Un like Brazal, 8(1 per cent of Australias tirs comas from u,idrrground

minee and tin mining has a century, rather than a decade-and-a-half, of history
behind it. Aus triilsa first rocketted to Importance in the I liGa: the skills of
Cornish Immigrant miners, put out of work at horn., helped her to asaume briefly
the mantle of world Leader. Yet it is only in the last 13 yeans that Auttralia has
returned to being a signilkani producer again. Seventy pez cent of Australias
production today cornes from the Renison, Abefoyle and Cleveland minci lic
Tanmaul. And the hard-rock openesat krdkthan mine in New South Wales; the
KCsS comes from small mines and alluvial workings in Ourendand, New South
Wales and Western Australia. Renison has been rejuvenated since 1964 by
Consolidated Gold FieLds. The Australians have been more successful in
recovcrutg tin ham low-grade vein deposits than have the Bolivitna who face
similar mining and niclallurgcad problems.
Cornwall. too, saw a revival in hi time-honored tin mining activitie, In the
196O and early 1970s with fresh capital being sunk in the two remaining nine.
(Geevor and Soutis Crofty) of the 24 that were working at thc close of the Fini
World War; Wised Jane Is Lo re-open In 1980. Cornwall occupies a more im jiortint
place in tice world tin pictur. than its current production would suggest. T
Cambourne School of Mines remains the Alma Mater of many of the worlds hardrock tin miners arid many of the Innovations In tin processing Ujl originate
LnCornwafl The major African producen, on the other band, h.vc euffered a
decline of over one.thisd in output during the la,t ten years, a trend ai variance
wish that of any other continent or region. In 1968, Nigvla produced 10.000
tonnes of tln4n- concentrates; In 978 the figure was under 400 tonnas. An
abience of reserves cannot be blamed for thg decline. Difficulty in attracting
mine labor la a partial answer: tisis Is a difficulty partly brought upon the industry
by its own reluc tance (not necessarily t social mistake) to substitute machinci for
men, A further partial expbrtulion lies In the reorganization that the heretofore
private, mainly British, mining companies have undergone In the last few years.
Sixty per cent of lie capital uf mch compame. has been acquked by Nigerians
and the Nigerian Mining Corporation as part of a national policy now virtually
com pleted The ieorganiz.d Ainalganiated Tin Mines of Nlgeiia remain,
responsible for about half of the countrys tin but has been unlucky in Its
attempts with drus_unes to remove the overburden from the sob-basalt deposits;
other corn panlal are reluctant to embark on new ientuies un:il the
alnalgamatlom of existing units have been completed and the policies of the new
controUers arc egtabjjslred.
In Zafre production s half what k wag In the late l960a; this m turn,was
half what It had been durang the l9SOs, the last d.cad. of Belgian colonial rule in
the Congo. No other lis mining area of substance has had uch a rapid rise and
fall In output. ft was during the 1930a that metropolitan capital was put Into
Belgian las mining cuinpanim funded to work concession., originally granted to
dic rail way company. The deposits are relatively numerous though Individually
small In extent; only alluvial and eluvial ore is worked. Peak production (15,000
lonn.r p.r year) occurred during the privileged conditions of World War U, and
since then there has been a stepped decline. Both capital and iJcilled personnel
are ob doudy diflcuh to artruct into Zaire. Th. recently elaborated new mining
plan is mainly aimed at restoring confidence n the much more Important
nationalized copper industry, but it aleo sheds light on the difficulties that any
joins venture in Zaire might anticipate.
Several genenilitics follow from tise preceding survey of tin producing
countrica, The lhst Is die remarkable degree of concentration of the industry. One
country, Malaysia, produces s quarter of the worlds titi: three produce cnc4i elf;

and the leading five countries account for tbze out of every four tonnes of tin pro
duced. Thu ii a hit_user degree of concentration than found ri the other three
older non-ferrous metal, copper, zinc and lead and Indeed in Iron ore Itself;
iris comparable to that found in the bauxite and nickel industries, both newer
element, on the woild Industrial scene than tin. Equally remarkable Is the degree
of concentration In particular regions of the world In particular Southeiist Asia
where half the wotlds tin j, produced. h Is remarkable thai there I; no tin In North
America. The major source of lit In the western hemisphere is Bolivia and tise
USA liiu had a dLtflcult tim. nursing that economy through the troubles of the
1960s and 1970,.
The impresason of unbalance h confirmed when viewed against patterns
of world trade. The three lending South.east Asian producing zountnes supply
two thirds of the tin which elLIera world nade; with Bolivia they are rcsponzg,lc
for four.fluths None of the major consumers of lin, with the cxcepUon of the
USSR, are s If-uIclent In the metal; non, of the major producers of Lin con sume
more than a miaU fraction of the tin (hey produce. It is only n China, and in
Braxii and Australia In the third division of producers, thst domestic demands
make many substantial ffirad on the tin produced at home.
The tin produced and traded m the MECs is ewentinfly s product of the
Third World. The average per cepita income of the BIg Four producers (that la.
ex. eluding tise USSR and China) was $467 In 1976. The average income of aft
tin producing countrieS. weighted to take account of the sta, of their production.
was highe at $1,1 30 In contras;, th. average Income of the tin consuming coon
triai, weighted by the amount of tin they consumed, was more than four tiznas
higher, at almost exactly $5,000. The world, as seen irons the antage points of
the producers. it an unfair one their tin la undeivalued to the degree thai the
ttandard of Ucing of thcis citizcns fails below that enjoyed by citizens of the
consuming countrIeS.
Half the worlds tin s produced by state-eun enterprises end pan of the re
mainder is produced by private companies in which the State plays a significant
role, The move in recent years has been towards public ownership of nattons] tin
missing industries. This suave has nor been at the expense of the big mining
MNCs since Ihey have not been as involved In the mining of tin as they have of
other allIed metals In fact, the MNCs have become more closely Involved with tin
onc, the process of natlonajizstlon has got under way and their management
skills hav, been called upon. The degre. of suocew of the state mining cor pot.
attons has beers mixed. It Is possrk that the relatively small scale of individual
tin depoaLLs rnitis*es against the succeas of large corporatIons whose scale can
make them insensitive to the specific requirements of individual sites. The effect
of growing public owoeishlp in the tin industry on he availability of capital for
investment is equally uncleat International governmental aid may b. more readily
available to a nahonal enterprise than to one in private hands and avers compen
sate for exclusion from acCess to domestic and overseas pt-irate capital.
Attempts by the American government to rehabilitate Ilolivias nationalized
industry were conditioned by the political need to sustain a country thought
important to American security: ai a purely economic level the consultants found
the private sector much more worthy of capital njecdon Signs suggest that the
real weak. ness of those nationalized tin mining corporations whose functioning n
open to inspection lice in their Usability to develop new reserves. t has not
always proved easy for poliiiciitnu to appresate th. need for, and to justify, the
expenditure of scarce funds u.u chancy exploration ventures at the expense of
achieving more Immediate results in the frequently limited lifetime of a national

government. Once the error of sacrificing expenditure on exploration is

appeeclated, a role frequently emerges for the mining MNCs, which can normally
bring Lo bear a much wider experIence si the estabhlunent and development of
new reserve than that ponesscd by the nationalized cuncern. And by remictinj
their rob to the discovery and proving uf fresh reserves, they avoid the popular
odium of being cast as internahunal robbe of national inheritances more
Interested in private gain than public benefit. It is stdi easy, net thele, fr mining
MNCa to become scapegoats for bad government or find themselves persona
flOM gruta with new regimes. end the corporations bave to be careful in
safeguarding them. selves sgamst the consequences of bed faith of euccessor
governments. In gen- ini], the international niining houses command more
resources than do even the larger organIzational unit, in the tin mining economy.
The three largest unit, outside the USSR arr the lndoneilan PT Tarobang Timah
corpmauon with attn. production of 24,000 tonnes b 1978, Comlbol (21.500
toroSa), and the Malaysian Mining Ccwporstlon (19,000 tonnes), with turnovers
that fell within the rang. of U250 to 300 million. In contrast, Consolidated
Goldflalds (with a 36 per cent Interest in th. Renison mine) had a turnover of
almost $2,000 million, as did lCecin.ontj Copper and Marco; the aluminium giants
Alcoa, Kaiser and Reynolds ail exceeded that flgure;aud Us. turnover of the
big steel companies dwarfed even those. Uy comparlso even larije tin
corporations are relatively emaIl fry in the international mining pond.
The average working unit in tin Is also relatively smell, The biggest under
ground mines Catavi in BOlivia. Renison in Tasmania each handled about
600.000 tonnes of rock In 1978 and Reniton produced 5,300 tonnes of tin worth
about $67 million, the biggest tin dredge I. capabl. of an annual through put of
eight million cubic metres anda production of 1.500-2,000 tonnes of tin, But the
number of mines ptoducing 1.000 tonneS of (In a year can be counted on he
fingers of a pair of hands and the 105 dredges operating in South-cut Asia In
1978 each produced an averag, of only 360 tonnes of tin-inconcentnate, valued
at about $4.6 million, The gravel pumpe arc much smaller units 1.200 were
working In 1978, each producing an average of 44 tonnes of tin with a maskrt
alue of S572,000. Nor la productivity high, even excluding the peunast mincie,
The average underground miner produces 1.7 tonnes of tin a yesr hit counteipsat
un a dredge 2.2 tonnes; and gravel pump operators only one tonne of tin per
worker.

THE PROCESSING OFTTN

Tin ore is low-grade ore. About one-quarter of tIte tin produced Is from
lode mitiez and emergea (rom the ground In materlal that nowadays is
considered rich if it contains one per cent tin. The average grade of ground
worked by many Malaysian dredges s csirirntly as low as 0.2 Ib/ydt or seven
parts in every 100.000 by weight. flic mill handling material from the Ardlethan
open pit in Australia treated 5118,975 tonnes of material to recover 1.715 tonnes
of tin in 1978,. retu,,i of one tonne of tIn for every 343 tonnes of material
handled; In 1977 the ground worked assayed between 0.2 and 03 per cent of tin.
These grades are perhaps 25 per cent below those of ten years ago.
The lean grade of moat area makes lar particular problems in processing
con centrales. All the ore Is turned into Concentrates at the minehead, on the
dredge or, In general, at the site of production. This mcans that the

concentasling mills are dispersed and handle relatively small volumes of ore.
Some are highly cf ficient, being precisely adjusted to the panicular
characteristics of the loa1 ore; others ax. Inafikienc. The processes employed are
In 1tge part mechanized vcr ions of (lie giavitational sorting techniques
employed by the pre.industri.1 miners of lurope Their ancient techniques arc
moxa widel employed in the tin Industry thaa in those of other nonJerroua
minerais, pertly because cassiterit. has a relatively high density compared with
the ores of most othet mineral ores and maltes the old process more effective in
tin. As yet there has been very little application of non.grsvsmelrtc methods in
the (infields of the world. This means uni the processIng of ore Is still ene In
which the Individual skill and attention of the niEl) worker can materially affect
recovery rates. automation plays only a negligible rok to date. Techniques long
employed lai the processing of other minerals have made little headway In the
modern tin mining Industry, Flotation Is employed ut a few of the mills attached
to the underground mInee where the head carries a inure compLex range of
minerals and where fine gnndmg la needed to liberate the cassiterite fragments.
Volauizatiun has so far gamed only very limited application: it is expensive of
energy and has yet to prove economical in the market oconuinjes outside the
USSR.
The tin smelting industry is more footloose ut its location. Historically,
heavy tranvport costs have meant thin tin concentrates were smelled on the
spot, but the cost uf ciaisspmJrciJig buLky ores has fallen. With the advent of the
steamship it becanic economical to transpon concanuates from the ritmes
perhaps half-way around the world to Iced the stricken of the new industrial
powers of 19th cen tuny Europe. Smelters could grow taiga and enjoy
economies of scale. The tin asnehers have traditionally been independent of bath
the mmes and the tin. comuining industries. Tin srneltmg has been a toll
arrangement in which a asesine was provided to th. tin producers for a fIxed
charge independent of the price of tin. The smelters have traditienafly helped to
evenout the cash flow of mining companies by advancing money on the strength
of concentrates held. Marketing has not been a function of the smelters.
The distribution of smelters at the end of the first hail of the 20th century
illustrates their freedom to locate almost at will. hail tite worlds tin smelting
capaaiy was situated in the tinficlds notably in Malaya and the other half us
the industrial world -. notably in th. former imperial countoca of Western hiurope.
The smelters in Singapore and Penang, financed by British capital, drew upon
Malay production (thanks to an expon levy on concentrates) and that of Thailand.
BoLivian mind Nlgcnaii oaicenLraues caine to Brltain.haltof Indonesias
concentrates were smelled in tite Netherlands and those from tise Belgian Congo
In continental Europe, Perhaps the most interesting arid exceptional develop.
irment during the fust half of the 20th century was the entry of Simon Patmo into
tise tin smelting field In 1912. Dy the late 1930s Patijio companies con- (rolled
half the worlds tin capacity. But the smelters remained separate entitie and
ware not integrated backwa,di jito the mining companies. The rehtionshipe
betwccn producer and smelter and between smelter and conecmet have been
wcakeg in tin than In other mineral Induetriec.
The last twenty years lias seen a move lo doict financial and geographical
ties between the smelters and the mine,. No ielf.re.pecting tin psoducoig country
now leels it can ito without ita own smelter. Econemic arguments quantifying the
anticipeted savga m shipping coats cf Uansponlng metal rather th.an more bulicy
concesluates, the tranct of the value added In the smeithig plocees, the savings
In forei eitchang., and the posid,Ie roil-on effects within other aectoil of the

.conorny, have all been used to justif, a domestic stalling Industry. Studies to
date suess that these economic arguments are flot n.crassrfly Con clusive, but
this la frequently inelevant. The building of a domestic tin smelter has been a
political decision and Its accomplishment a mattc, ol national pride.
New state-owned imsitert have bean opened In Lndoneaia and in Bolivia In
the 1970. and now smelt a majority of the domestic concentrates there
produced. Two new smelters were opened si Nigeria In 1961; a new
privatety.owncd smelter opened in Thailand In 1965. and Brazilian snielteza have
expanded their capacity Li process the new tin coming from the Amazonien
fields. Some Chincie concentrates are still smeft.d outside the Republic but no
Soviet tin u amehed abroad. Many long.establlah.d smelters In Europe have
closed and woeld asncltlng capacity remains above requIrements. As recently sa
1958 half of the worlds tin production (excluding that of tite CPEa) was s,n.ked
In Europe; 1958 was the last yes, n which the production of tin metal was
granter ji Europc than in AsIa Ten yesca later, Europe still produced one-quarter
of the wodds tin; by 1978 It produced under one-eighth, Two-thirds of the world,
tin concentrate. Is now smckcd In Southetit Asia. Malaysia has the largest output.
producing 72,000 tonnes of tin in 978. ThaIland (29,000 tonnes), Indonesia
(26,000 tonsies) and BolivIa (16,000 tonnes) were next in order, and in the saine
category as the UR (31,000 tonne.) and ChIna (20,000 tonnes). Brazil (9,500
tonnes) otertook the U1 (8,500 tonnes) as a producer of tin metal In 1979. Only
11 per cent of the worlds tin In 1978 wu inched outside the produc countncs

THE TRADE IN TIN

The shift (o domestic smelting has reduced the volume of world trade In
con centrales, but k,aca,ed chat in tin gota. In 1977 only about 42,000 tonnes
oftln-in-4x,nceaIrStes, or one-thth of the worlds production, entered world
tradecompared with, for er.ampl., 58,000 tonnes in 1970. The sddition of a0,000
tonnes to Bobvlss domestic smelting capacity before the end of 1980can only
reduce trade In concentrates, This new capacIty will raise thatn the world to
44)0,000 tonnes per year a capacity 60 per cens n cacees ofthat required.
There is now four timet sa much metal se concentrates entering the
worldtrad, w lin. Although exports of imported tin metal from Ike USA. the UK.
Malaysia and Singapore ars Included in world trade figures, IbsI, isnpct on th.
essential trade pattern Is negligible. The laica between peoduce: and
consumerhave become more direct now tIsaS mo poduction Is smeked at home
Forexample. In 1967 Europe expucted 2700 tonnes of metal; ten years later
thefigure had been reduced by 0,000 tonnes. The leading exporters of tin metal
in 1977 wcte Malaysia (63.179 tonnes), Indonesia (23,521 tonnes). Thailand
(23,295 10105eS) and BolIvia (12,478 tonlics) they accounted for over
threquartera of the total tupply. The countries at destinatk,n were more
numerons. The USA (48,338 tonsisa) ab.orb.d oses one.Ihird of th. total and 5h.
EEC counrncs (46,000 tonnes) IIOLheI on-thiyd. Japan (28,200 tonnes)
accounted for two-thirds of the resIdue. The re of the world took up the
remaining IC per cent.
THE CONSUMPTION OF TIN
Table 6.2 shows the geograpdsical pattern of coneumption of primary tin
(that Is, aewty4niGlied tin metal, as diitinc* from secOndary tin which ii
reclaimed Irons scrap, mainly w alloy form, and used again). Twenty yeats ago
the USA used one.third of the worldi tin; today she conmines about one-quartet.

The actual figure reached an sil-gime high of 63,175 tonnes in 1966 but by 978
had returned to the esme level (47,000 Ionises) that It had been twenty years
earUer. The nine countries which now make up th EEC used 52,300 tonnes in
1958,49,667 Ionises in 1968. and 49,941 tonnes in 1978: In proportional terms,

Western Europes sharfe of manufactured tin has dropped from about one-thkd Iweiity
years aa o onelifth today. Coiumpon n Europe sa a whols has risen following the prubNe
doubling of consumption within the USSR, howcver, and the share of Europe (Including
the USSR) has remained rcmarkithly stable during the pirlod st about 47.48 per ccnt of
the world total. Japan has doubled (to 12 per cent) the proportion of the worlds tin eh.
uses in spite of a reltve decline since 1973. Changes in the share of Asia In world tin
consumption are almost entirely due to the predominant role of Japan. Neverthelese, If
one makes as sumptions about the situation within Mainland Chins it Is s notable fact
that one-quarter of the worlds tin Is now consumed In Asia compared with one-fifth
twemy years ago. Yet the average American continuel to use 4.5 times his fair share of
the wodd tin, the average Jepanese four limes (1.8 in 1958) and the average West
European three times (four In 1955). In contrait, that half of due worlds population whlh
live. In Asia, excluding Japan. uses only one-fifth of their notional allocation of the worlds
tin. This fraction Is, however. Higher than the one-seventh of twenty yran 4o
Regional changes in the propuetloLis of tin conzumed can be related to the wellknown strengths and weaknesses of parucislar Industrial .conoeruea. A more remarkable
feature of wcatld tin consumption, however, Is the lack of change In the gross swuunt
consumed thIs bai not risen In line with other global indi caters of world economic
growth. In 1900 about 100.000 tonnes of primary tin were absorbed by world Industry.
Consumption reached a peak of about 185.000 tonnas In 1929. faIling to about 155.000
in 1939. It returned to the 1939 Level In 1950 la currently about Z20,000 tonnes a year.
Consumption by the MECs averaged 141 OO tonnes during the 1950.. 170,000 tonnes In
the 1960e, nd 191 OO tonnes In the 1970e. The i&Le at which the free market for Lin
has grown slacked from two per cent Iv 1.3 per cent per annum between 1950 and l970
oonianmptioii In 1978 was exactly the nene as In 1970. Thcse growth retes are very
much lower than those meuaunng the demand for the older non-ferrous metals lead,
zinc, copper, aluminiUm or, indeed, foi steel.
An analysis of the uses to which tin Is put suggests asme of the reasons fut
what to penducers is a disappointing trend. rinpbte remains the most Importalat ingle
absorber of tin and 4045 p.r Cent of the worlds production Is used in the manulacture of
tins for the canning industry, an adjunct of lias worlds steel industry. The preserving sf
food and drink Is clearly a growth industry and, although :lnplate has suffered
competition from oth.r packaging materials - plasticS, paper, aluminium and glass
output has doubled every twenty years since 1900, from e little under one million tonnes
of nplate In 1900 to over 14 milLion tonnes In 1977. The fact that tin consumption has
not matched this rILe of expansion la partly explained by the replacement in tinpiate
manufacture of the oid hut.dipphls process (in which the steel wars dipped into e bath of
molten tin) by electiolydc coating. The latter allows much greater control over the
thickness of the coating; it has reduced the thickness of the average tul coating w one-

third of what It wes thirty years ago. Were an adequate substitute for tin to be found, the
tuipiatci mille, with their loyalties to the steel industry and not the tin Industry, would not
hesitate to iwitds (rom tin. The fact that almost half the woilds tin production depends
upon a single usage is never far from the forefront of tui producers minds.
The second important usage of tin is in solder. Again, tin ii used as e minor
constituent of a bi.metjliC product: In this case iced is the principal coneittuent. The
induatrini need to make jointe ond oon.nectboiis tim, of course, risen during the centut
end no satisfactory substitut. has been found to datc for tin In oId.r. Refinements in the
technology of manufacturing have meant much mols careful contrai over boll, the
amount of poLder uscd and the amount of Un needed in the alloy, and thee. have more
ot leas oountcr-baiinced any tendency towards an enhanced demand. The remaining one
hird of world tin con iumption is pertly in the form of other alloys, utciuding the
traditional unes of bronze and pcwlcr and the industrial white metal alloys usad in
bearing*. And partly in industrial chemicala and petrochemicnis. Only very rarely ii tin
used as a snaor constituent of a finished inicie.
A proportion of the worlds tm is recycled. Most of the tin reclaimed from
discrdcd prunay usages is from alloys such ea bronsel. brar.jes. solders, beating amd
type metals, and is used again, in alloy form. The UK is the most expert at reclaiming
secondary tin (st l.as* according to statisticS it La a difficult area to monitor
successfully) and in recent years has accounted for about onethird of the lOOO tonne.
of tin entering the free world economy In this fashion. Scope to Increase this total
remains end during tiznes of emergency tin has been r. covered from old tinpiate scrap:
but normally the prices of both scrap steel and iroondaty tin do nut warrant the cost of
reclamatIon.
The prospects of a dramatic increase in the conmmptioa of tin in the fore
seeable future are not rosy. The US Bureau of Mines has forecast that American
consumption of tin is Likely to rise at a rate of only 0.3 per cent per annum for the rest of
1kb century. The requIrements of the US tinpbte Industry ars likely to aU from being over
one-third to becoming under on..quarter of tite total tin consumed md, pertly sa s
consequence of this changed pattern of demand. secondary tin b likely to provido a
h4her proportion (say 20 per cent) of tin requiremcmsts. The same source believes that
the pwbable annual growth during the next twenty years in world demand fur primary tin
will be at a rat. of only on. per cent (and that of secondary tin 1.9 per ccnt). In tonnages
these lates yield a most probable global demand of 306,000 tonnes of primary Un In the
yner 2000, iuppleniwttaci by 47,000 tonnes of sccond5tY tin. There is a reel poseibthty.
however, that demand may actuilly fall. The anticipated low rate of growth of demand for
tin is in contrast with the higher rates anticipated for al mont all other metals. The only
metals for which lower ratel of growth in the USA ate anticipated are mercury and
thallium. The demands for copper (2.9 per csUt), ironinore (l.6 per cent), both lead and
zinc
(1.9
per
cent),
nickel
(3.0
per cent) and tungsten (4.6 p.r cent) aie expected to rise In line with the ex. pectcd
growth in GNP (33 per cent) and in the rate of industrial pioduction (3.7 per cent), both of
which satiable; were u,td in modelling the demand for nieth
INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION IN TIN
The historically low rate of expansion In the matket fog tin &nd the tively pessimistic
outlook for growth during the next twenty years; the suong dichot. ormes apparent
between the characters of the supplying countries and those of the consuming countries;
the central Importance of tin n the expon economies of the producing countries and Ita
relative ilficance n the trading accounts o( the Importing countries, the growing
investment of national c*pltal In the mining and smelting of tin;the greater difficulty of
attracting private investment capital Into Un than Into other metals, these and other
consldention.s combine to make the wosid trade In tin a matter more strongly charged
with political lnteraet than that of many other raw materials.

This Interest has been given concrete Corns In tire operatIons of the many tin
egreernenta (ITA) which have been In existence for moat of the last fifty years. The first
ITA was a ptoduct of the world economic slump and came Into force n 1931. It was an
agreement emongit producing countries to Insu the amount of tin entering the maricet
by crsing a buffer stock to adjust supply to demand and thereby maintain a reasonable
tin price; it was moderately succeesful and served as a useful model for che deliberations
of the International Tin Study Group alter World Wa, 11. By 1954 the International Tirs
Council (ITC) icad been formed and since 1956 baa admigtlster,d a succession of mve.
year ITAs.
The aim of the ITAs has been to ensure that the wider political Interetts of the
producing and consuming countries ai-v taken Into accoum In the world trade In tin. Their
Interests indude th. alleviation of sodal distress In 5h. pro. ducing counaglee during times
of reduced demand for tin, the prevernion of ax. cealve fluctuations In the price of tin,
the provision of bases for longer-term planning, and the ensuring of adequate supplies of
tIn at reasonabJe prices at au clines. Clauses In succeselve ITAs have midumbraled the
need to maintain the export earnings of producing countries, to review the disposal of
non comznercial stocka, and to promote the efflcment development sad exploration of
new mesoulcea. One of the atseogtin of ch. ITAS h.a been that ail tise majo: iwdsmcers
which ente, world trade have been anatories to the agreements. Ii,;.d h the only usrent
exception but may Join the Sixth Agreement In I95l. One of the snore recent features of
the ITAs has bean the fuller Insohe. ment of time commiutning countries. At (list the USA
was the only notable outsider bist the strong recovery of the West German and Japanese
economies quickly made their absence. felt. The changing climate of world opinion and
the rise of produver-rUsp lis other raw materials fields have meant that all the big con
aumnnt lndudirmg the USSR have now been netted by the ITC and all arc bound by time
ITAs,
The direct way In which the lit attempts Lo influence the tin market it by the use
of tIse twin weapons of a buffer stock and export control. Tite sis. of th. buffet stock,
20,000 tonnes of tin or Its cash equivalent, has been too small to achieve completely the
balance rougist. It has, for example, had no tin In stock since January 1977 and has been
Ineffective in damping down on price rises. It is expected that the buffet stock will be
expanded when the next five-year Agreement becomes open for signature in 1980,
Export control lias nut been popular with some producers. A very important indirect
weapon has been the influence that ITC has b.en able to muster to prevent distortion of
the market by the dumpIng of tin aulplus to the strategic requirements of the Russians in
the late 1950i and of the AUSerLCSUS more recently The Axnerice.n atnstegic stockpile
contains 200,000 tonnes of tin and If relecd could have s very de prewing effect upon tin
prices. With legislation pending requiring the USA Lo dispose of 3500 tonnes of tin, the
lIC has been heavily cxcrcized in trying tu insure that such s release would hav, no
deleterious effect on (he economies of the producing countries.
It la difficult to be dogmatic about the iffect of the venous ITAs on the world tin
industry. The general new Is that they has-e worked reasonably well. The fact that they
have been in force continuously for a quarter-of-a-century and thai the numbcrs of
interested panics adhering to thcm has Increased Is testimony in Itself. Although thee. Is
some sabre-rattling among producers in favour of arr OPEC.like can.], It ii generally
expected that s sixth five-year agreement will come into force in 981. The yardatlek
against which the per lormance of the ITAs la most frequently mesew-ed jg the pric, of tin
which is established on the three tin markets: London, Pensag and New York. The prices
are established competitively in the light of supply nd d.juand. In this respect, tin
resembles gold and tungsten and differs from metals such as alu minium inrI steel, who,,
paces are set by producers; It also differs from copper. lead and zinc which are sold both
on producer.corni-olled markets and on the LME and New York Commodity Exchange. A
review of the prices of tin and other non-Ictrous metals in the USA dunng the period since
1956, the year in which the first postwar ITA came into force, reveals that, using the
average price in 1955-57 us. base of 100, the average price of tin In 1977 was 601.7; of

copper 1 79.6 of lead 200.8; of nickel 3363; of zinc 277.7, and of aluminium 199.6. TItUS,
in spite of a flagging demand, the price of lin has not slumped relative to other metalt,
rather th. reverse, It also suggests the possible depress. usg effcct on the market that s
releas, of the marginal supphcs of Lin held in the US stockpile could have. Caicislstiona of
the range through which the petce has fluctuated during each of the years since 1956
uiggests that the ITAs have damped down the worst of the fluctuations from which the
metal suffered in pre-ITA days. Between 1956 and 1977 the highest price of tin on the
Penang exchange in any given year averaged only 13 per cent above the average price
of the year. the lowest price was only ten pee cent below that average figure.
Thc Tin Agreements have their otiles, the most vociferous Internal critic being
Bolivia which si in the forefront of orases to creste a producers cartel. Bolivias
diaratiafaction stems from many sources but la partly a consequence of her heavy
dependency upon tin. Exports of tin have supplied over half Bolivias foreign exchange
earnings for decades and no other counuy is so vulnerable to changes In tIse price of the
metal. She Laxes tin titare heavily (ha molt producer: and in morne year, denver onethird of governm.nai Income from leyle; on the metal.
High prices are more Important to Bolivia than to any oilier producer because
her panduction costs are higher than those of any other wpphe, to the world market.
Figures recently relea.ed by the ITC and showing comparative pro duction costa foi
rnid.1978. give the following valucs (In Malaynan dollars per picul, or 13333 Iba): BOliVIa
$1.685. Malaysia $1,304; lmdontsia $l,303;Thai- land $1.191; UK $1,145; Austrtlia
$1,301. Bolivian 0051: srs half as much again as those of the othcr hard-rocic mining
districts of Cornwall and of Australis. Tb. 1wpor(ne to Bolivia of belonging te an
organization which, lis critics pay, tends to fossijize production patterns. is clear. The
figures for Australia nrggcs( something of the benefits to b. won by heavy pervate
investment on a sonic more normaily associated with other metals. Under the umbrella of
the lTA Bolivia haa survived AustralIa has grown fat, and a thitiogue has be.n
mamtained between producers and imnanmers. Thanks to the ITC. the activitie, of the tin
Industry are better understed than ars those of most other metal, and the cha
acteriatler that make the tin bidust,y unique are better docurnented
REFERENCES
W. Fox. mr. m. Ww*ffig oa ConieodiyAreseent (Loniks,, 1 974).
KL. Haut,, 7Tn MJoerel Conmodtsy Profil. 16 (ihireau ai Moie., US Department of the
InIcuo,, 97e).
IntcrlntLoeal Tin Council, Moathy Sin Irritai
.ThrStatrutcs(19i7-19T7).
,JterUtfeei Yeorloo (1968).
. TfCilekd C0.!r,rnce, orn Th, (1967,1969).
Mining annual ! Reioew (Loado.. 1979).
Tin International (Loado., monthly).