Securing reliable and sustainable tin supply to meet future demand is a complex challenge.
The tin industry is highly concentrated in Asia, with artisanal reserves in China, Indonesia and Myanmar reaching depletion and a lack of new mechanized mines being developed given decades of underinvestment.
Similarly, most tin ores in Africa and South America are extracted in small artisanal operations under standards far distant from the requirements of ESG conscious investors and consumers. Tin ores and concentrates from these regions make their way to China, Malaysia and Indonesia, where most of the world’s smelting capacity exists.
Except for recycling, there is currently no primary tin production or downstream smelting capacity in Europe or North America to supply their domestic manufacturing sectors. As Western economies move into reshoring critical supply chains such as solar, electric vehicles and semiconductors, they will struggle to secure domestic and compliant supply of tin.
