U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 930-J International Strategic Minerals Inventory Summary Report-Tin Prepared as a cooperative effort among earth­ science and mineral-resource agencies of Australia, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America Ge ologic Time Scale I Million years Age before present Holocene Quaternary r- 0.01 Pleistocene I u r- 2 Pliocene 6 r- N r- 5 Miocene 0 z t- 24 Oligocene Tertiary w u t- 38 Eocene t- 55 Paleocene 1-- 63 Late Cretaceous Cretaceous u r-- 96 Early Cretaceous 6 N t- 138 0 Jurassic en w - ~ 205 Triassic -240 Permian - 290 Pennsylvanian Carboniferous ~ -330 Mississippian u 6 t- 360 N Devonian 0 w ...J r- 410 <( Silurian a.. - 435 Ordovician - 500 Cambrian u -570 Late Proterozoic 0 - ~ t- 900 a: z Middle Proterozoic w r- 1- t- 1600 0 ~ a: a: Early Proterozoic a.. al 2500 ~ <( z u <( w w a: :c a.. u a: <( International Strategic Minerals Inventory Summary Report-Tin By David M. Sutphin, Andrew E. Sabin, and Bruce L. Reed U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 930-J Prepared as a cooperative effort among earth­ science and mineral-resource agencies of Australia, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America 1990 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MANUEL LUJAN, Jr., Secretary U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Dallas L. Peck, Director Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1990 Free on application to the Books and Open-File Reports Section U.S. Geological Survey Federal Center, Box 25425 Denver, CO 80225 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Sutphin, David M. International Strategic Minerals Inventory summary report-Tin I by David M. Sutphin, Andrew E. Sabin, and Bruce L. Reed. p. em. - (U.S. Geological Survey circular ; 930-J) "Prepared as a cooperative effort among earth-science and mineral-resource agencies of Australia, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America." Includes bibliographical references. Supt. of Docs. no. : I 19.4/2:930-J 1. Tin. 2. Strategic materials. I. Sabin, Andrew E. II. Reed, Bruce L., 1934- . III. Title. IV. Series. TN480.S87 1989 333.8'5483-dc20 89-600290 CIP FOREWORD Earth-science and mineral-resource agencies from several countries started the International Strategic Minerals Inventory to gather cooperatively information about major sources of strategic mineral raw materials. This circular summarizes inventory information about major deposits of tin, one of the mineral commodities selected for the inventory. The report was prepared by David M. Sutphin and Bruce L. Reed of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Andrew E. Sabin of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM). The tin inventory was compiled by Andrew E. Sabin (chief compiler); Ian S. McNaught, Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics; W. David Sinclair, Canadian Department of Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR), Geological Survey of Canada; and Ian Crocker, South African Department of Mineral and Energy Mfairs, Geological Survey. Douglas Hartwick contributed information on the aspects of tin uses and supply. Additional contributions to the report were made by Antony B. T. Werner and Jan Zwartendyk, EMR, Mineral Policy Sector, and John H. DeYoung, Jr., USGS. Director CONTENTS I ~ ~~~~~;~~:;,.~~;::,~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;:::::::::::-~ Lode deposits ---------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Placer deposits --------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Tin resources----------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Tin production- --------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Tin consumption -------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 1 jrt Conclusions------------------------------------------------------------------------ 22 ~~fe!!~~:l~i~:~ _i~~~~~~:- ~~~o~a~~~~ :~~ ~i~- ~~~~~i~s- ~~~ _~i~~~t~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ Arditional references on tin resources ------------------------------------------------------- 52 ILLUSTRATIONS Page 1, 2. Diagrams showing: 1. United Nations resource categories used in this report ------------------------- 3 2. U.S. tin consumption by finished product in 1986 and 1965 -------------------- 4 3, 4. Maps showing: 3. Location, deposit type, and estimated resources of major tin deposits and districts in the world ------------------------------------------------------- 7 4. Tin-bearing areas in Southeast Asia ---- -- ---------------------------------- 8 5, 6. Simplified diagrams showing a typical: 5. Bucket-line dredge and outboard concentrating plant ------------------------- 11 6. Gravel-pump operation ------------------------------------------------- 12 7. Map showing economic classification of the World Bank for countries where the world's major tin deposits and districts occur ------------------------------- 13 8-10. Bar graphs showing: 8. Tin resources in the world's major deposits and districts according to their date of discovery -------------------------------------------------------- 16 9. Proportions of total world mine production of tin accounted for by countries having major deposits in the ISMI tin inventory, selected years 1940-87 -- -- 17 10. Countries having greater than 2,000 metric tons of tin mine production in any one of the selected years 1940-8 7- --------------------------------------- 18 11-13. Graphs showing: 11. Tin production for selected countries from 1980 to 1987 ---------------------- 19 12. Concentration ratios for selected nonfuel mineral commodity production in 1913 and 1980 ------------------------------------------------------------ 20 13. Tin concentration ratios and prices for the years 1935 to 1988 ----------------- 21 14. Pie chart showing tin production and consumption in 1987 by economic class of country -------------------------------------------------------------- 23 15. Map showing major tin deposits and districts, their present production status, and their probable production status in 2025 ----------------------------------- 24 TABLES Page TABLE 1. Geologic deposit types represented by deposits in the ISMI tin inventory- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9 2. Known economic tin resources in the world's major deposits and districts, by country, deposit type, and mining method ------------------------------------------- 14 3. Tin resources in the world's major deposits and districts, by geologic deposit type and resource category ---------------------------------------------- -- -------- 14 4. Tin resources in the world's major deposits and districts, by economic class of country and resource category- ---------------------------------------------------- 15 5, 6. Estimated cumulative and annual mine production of tin, contained in ore and concentrate: 5. For each country having production for the period 1934-87 ------------- -- -------- 20 6. By economic class of country for countries having a reported production from 1934 through 1987---------------------------------------------------------- 21 7. Tin RlE resources in the world's major deposits and districts, listed by mining method and economic class of country- --------------------------------------------- 21 8. Estimated cumulative and annual apparent consumption of tin by major tin-consuming countries ---------------------------------------- - ---------------------- 22 9. Selected geologic and location information from ISMI records for tin deposits and districts ---------------------------------------------------------------- 26 10. Selected production and mineral-resource information from ISMI records for tin deposits and districts------------------------------------- -------- ---------------- 38 INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC MINERALS INVENTORY SUMMARY REPORT TIN By David M. Sutphin, 1 Andrew E. Sabin, 2 and Bruce L. Reed 1 Abstract In 1986, the portion of production from the four largest producers (Malaysia, Brazil, Soviet Union, Indonesia) declined The International Strategic Minerals Inventory tin to about 55 percent, while the price of tin rose from about inventory contains records for 56 major tin deposits and $1,500 to $18,000 per metric ton. In response to tin shortages districts in 21 countries. These countries accounted for 98 during World War II, the United States began stockpiling percent of the 10 million metric tons of tin produced in the refined tin metal from approximately 1946 to 1953 to ensure a period 1934-87. Tin is a good alloying metal and is generally strategic supply in the event of another war. nontoxic, and its chief uses are as tinplate for tin cans and as Since World War II, there have been six International solder in electronics. Tin Agreements to maintain price and supply stability between The 56 locations consist of 39 lode deposits and 17 tin producers and consumers. Artificially high prices set by the placers and contain almost 7.5 million metric tons of tin in tin-producing members and a tin glut brought on by inde­ identified economic resources (R1 E) and another 1.5 million pendent producers like Brazil caused the collapse of the metric tons of tin in other resource categories. Most of these world tin market in late 1985; the International Tin Council resources are in major deposits