Tasmanian Tin

The primary platform and driver for growth within Metals X’s tin business is its Tasmanian Tin Strategy which is aimed at creating shareholder value from the Company’s tin assets and infrastructure in Tasmania. These assets are held under a 50/50 JV with Yunnan Tin Parksong Australia Holdings Pty Ltd (“YTPAH”) within a wholly owned subsidiary company, Bluestone Mines Tasmania Pty Ltd (“BMT”).
The key assets of BMTJV are the cornerstone of Tasmania’s and Australia’s hard-rock tin history and are today still Australia’s most significant tin assets. They include:

The key assets of BMT are the cornerstone of Tasmania’s and Australia’s hard-rock tin history and are today still Australia’s most significant tin assets. They include:

1. The World Class Renison Bell Mine;
2. The Renison Tin Concentrator;
3. The Mt Bischoff Tin Project, and
4. The Renison Expansion Project, Rentails.

On 18 March 2010, Metals X Limited completed the sale of a 50% interest in its Tasmanian Tin assets to Yunnan Tin – Parksong Group (YTG). Metals X received consideration of $50M in cash plus adjustments including tin stocks and prepayments of $1.2M and the release of 50% of its cash-backed performance bonds of $2.1M. Metals X’s wholly owned subsidiary Bluestone Mines Tasmania Pty Ltd and YT Parksong Australia Holding Pty Ltd have established a new JV management company Bluestone Mines Tasmania Joint Venture Pty Ltd to manage the assets for and on behalf of the joint venture partners.

YTG is the world’s largest tin producer producing approximately 60,000tpa of refined tin metal which is approximately 20% of the global market. The company operates advanced tin smelting and refining technology, including Ausmelt furnaces for tin fuming which is a key processing step for the Renison expansion project (Rentails).
Metals X believes the partial sale and establishment of the JV will provide significant security of concentrate sales and exposure to new and proprietary technology that provide opportunity to advance and expand its tin production base, especially the Rentails Tailings re-treatment project

Renison Underground Mine & Concentrator

Commissioning and ramp up to full production of the Renison Tin Concentrator was successfully completed during 2009. The operation has generated positive cash and operating surpluses with production levels reaching expected annualised capacity during the 2010 calendar year.

Following the consumption of the Mt Bischoff Open Pit stockpiles in late 2010, production will be sourced exclusively from the Renison underground mine providing all mill feed with production from both the Federal and North Renison internal declines.
Metals X completed a review of its Identified Mineral Resource and Mining Reserve Estimates for its Tin Division during the quarter. Despite depletion of the reserve by mining, successful extensional exploration over the recent past has culminated in a year on year increase in Mining Reserves of 60%.

Total Identified Mineral Resource Estimates for Renison are 7.25Mt @ 1.77% Sn containing 128,391t Sn.

Total Mining Reserve Estimates for Renison are 1.66Mt @ 1.81% Sn containing 30,180t Sn.

Mt Bischoff

Mt Bischoff is a significant deposit in its own right producing in excess of 55,000t of tin metal since the late 1800’s. The total footprint of historical production significantly exceeds the current open pit operations and the project has significant upside potential for additional tin mineralisation. The company continues to explore for further open pit and possible underground targets to continue to supplement ore supply to the Renison concentrator beyond the current phase of mining which was completed in July 2010.

Renison Expansion Project (Rentails)

The Rentails project is aimed at the re-processing and recovery of tin from an estimated 18.957 million tonnes of tailings at an average grade of 0.44% Tin and 0.21% Copper (containing over 83,000 tonnes of tin and over 40,000 tonnes of copper metal) that remain at the site from the historic processing of tin ores from the Renison Bell mine.

The company completed a Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS) in 2008, which identified that a combination of sulphide flotation and tin flotation separation techniques could produce a low grade concentrate which would be fumed to produce a saleable tin product.