Phoenix Metals, a tin smelting plant in Kigali. Rwanda targets to boost
mining revenue from the current levels to $400 million by 2017. PHOTO |
FILE
By KABONA ESIARA
In Summary
- The delay means Rwanda will continue selling raw ore and losing higher forex earnings that the country would have earned from exporting the mineral in value-added form.
- The Conflict-Free Smelter Programme was scheduled to audit Phoenix Metals Ltd, the only tin smelter in Rwanda, last month, but did not send its assessors. The audit would have been the second and final one leading to the award of a conflict-free smelter certification.
- Phoenix Metals invested $10 million in the tin smelter in 2002. The smelter has a capacity to process 15 tonnes of tin daily. Some 10 tonnes of cassiterite (tin ore) produce a tonne of ingots.
A US watchdog that monitors the use of proceeds from
minerals in funding conflicts has postponed its audit of a tin smelter
in Rwanda until next month.
The delay means Rwanda will continue selling raw ore and losing
higher forex earnings that the country would have earned from exporting
the mineral in value-added form.
The Conflict-Free Smelter Programme was scheduled to audit
Phoenix Metals Ltd, the only tin smelter in Rwanda, last month, but did
not send its assessors. The audit would have been the second and final
one leading to the award of a conflict-free smelter certification.
The auditors have now ordered Phoenix Metals to separate its
mineral buying business from its smelting ore in order to help track
conflict minerals in the supply chain.
“Phoenix Metals was asked to separate the mineral buying and
smelting business before the certification,” said Evode Imena, Rwanda’s
State Minister for Mining.
Phoenix Metals invested $10 million in the tin smelter in 2002.
The smelter has a capacity to process 15 tonnes of tin daily. Some 10
tonnes of cassiterite (tin ore) produce a tonne of ingots. Rwanda has
enough cassiterite deposits to sustain the plant. Artisan miners
dominate tin mining in the country.
The company has since the last audit in June 2015 registered a
subsidiary to buy minerals directly from the miners. It takes between
four and six months for a company to complete the audit cycle. Phoenix
Metals has a provisional certificate to trade in minerals.
“We have been test-running the tin smelting plant since July. We
have orders to supply the ingots directly to aeroplane manufacturers
and electronic device makers but we cannot export the tin ingots without
conflict-free smelter certification,” said Jean de Dieu Mutunzi,
Phoenix Metals operations manager.
The World Bureau of Metal Statistics forecast shows tin traded
at $21,114 in 2012 before picking to $22,000 per tonne in 2013, and
dropping to $21,869 per tonne in 2014. The prices fell to their lowest
last year at 16,250 per tonne. This year, tin prices are forecast to
recover to $17,000 per tonne.
The Rwandan government recently banned middlemen from buying
minerals to ensure smelters get enough supplies mostly by artisanal
miners.
Mineral tracing
The audits are part of global initiatives to stop trading in minerals, said to be fuelling conflict in the Great Lakes.
Rwanda, which has outlawed trading in smuggled minerals, is
suspected to be a conduit of smuggled minerals from the troubled
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Currently, mineral smelters are subjected to audits by the
Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative, under the global Conflict-Free
Smelter Programme, which has made tracing, auditing and certification of
minerals compulsory to ensure that they are “conflict-free”.
No comments :
Post a Comment