SHANGHAI: Tin prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) advanced on Friday as Alphamin Resources halted mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Alphamin Resources said on Thursday that activity at the Bisie tin mine in Congo’s North Kivu had been paused “after insurgent militant groups have recently advanced westward in the direction of the mine’s location in the DRC occupying the towns of Nyabiondo”.
Shanghai’s most active tin contract jumped 8.6% to 287,800 yuan ($39,793.15) a metric ton on Friday, as of 0716 GMT, after hitting the upper limit of 10% in Asia morning trade.
Benchmark three-month tin prices on the London Metals Exchange rose 1.7% to $36,500 a ton. “Bisie tin mine is the world’s third-largest tin mine, contributing to 6% of the world’s tin ores in 2024,” Wang Weiwei, an analyst at Yide Futures, said in a note.
Even as Myanmar’s Wa state is looking into restarting its mining operations, Wang expects doesn’t see any significant increase in tin supply stemming from this area to be evident until May 2025. “We are closely monitoring the news about militancy in Congo, given its significant role as a global supplier of tin,” a base metals trader said.
LME copper was up 0.6% at $9,845 a ton, LME aluminium was down 0.2% at $2,698.5 a ton, lead gained 0.8% to $2,088, zinc rose 0.3% to $2,970 and nickel gained 0.6% to $16,605.
SHFE copper jumped 1% to 80,360 yuan a metric ton, SHFE aluminium was flat at 20,990 yuan a ton, zinc added 0.2% to 24,140 yuan, lead jumped 0.9% to 17,725 yuan and nickel added 0.1% to 133,660 yuan.
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