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Uis exceeded nameplate capacity by 12%, reaching 804 tonnes, as the company ran production hard in response to record tin prices.
Drilling aimed at expanding and upgrading the resource base is in progress.
Tin prices are soaring, as demand is boosted by semiconductor production, while supply remains constrained with a shortage of new projects. Hannam and Partners raised its estimate for tin prices by 54% for 2022, to US$44,175/t.
"Global demand for tin is underpinned by the electronics market with lead-free solders accounting for 49% of consumption," Hannam & Partners said on March 28. "Tin use in electronics is set to grow as microchip miniaturisation reaches its limit coupled with an increased demand for digitisation."
"We believe the current high-price environment will help diminish tin's supply side deficit in the long term. However, there remains a high level of uncertainty as to whether the industry can increase production fast enough."
