Tin is a soft, highly malleable, rust- and fatigue-resistant metal and one of the few that’s been used and traded by humans for more than 5,000 years. It’s a key metal in the electronics industry with solder alone accounting for 50% of global demand. As such, tin’s demand (and its price) is surging from energy and digital transitions.
However, supply growth is constrained, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Myanmar, which are poised to create a supply deficit as early as 2026 – the first since 2021.
In the final part of this tin series, Mining.com.au looks beyond the DRC and Myanmar, which account for 20% of global production and 60% of Chinese tin ore imports, to uncover where else the “glue” of metals is being explored for.
With 97% of the world tin supply coming from developing economies – and 40% coming from artisanal and small-scale miners – there is a desperate need for new sources of this non-toxic and ubiquitous metal (Sn).
Australia’s concentrated tin market
About 67% of Australia’s tin ore reserves are attributable to the Renison Bell mine in Tasmania, which is the country’s only producer of the metal as a major product.
Minor amounts of byproduct tin are produced from pegmatite deposits such as Greenbushes in Western Australia. The remaining reserves belong to the Cleveland, Kara, and Mount Lindsay deposits in Tasmania and to the Taronga deposit in New South Wales.
Yet there are a growing number of players in the market on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), as well as the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V).
A number of smaller ASX explorers report tin as a prospectivity attribute in broader projects rather than as a central focus – their exposure varies and may depend on future drilling results.
One player with a significant focus on tin is Koba Resources (ASX:KOB), which on 7 October 2025 entered into a binding agreement with EV Resources (ASX:EVR) to acquire two highly prospective ‘high-grade’ tin-tungsten projects covering 432km2 located 100km southwest of Cairns in North Queensland – the Stannary Hills Tin-Tungsten Project and the Mt Garnet Tin-Tungsten Project.
Speaking to Mining.com.au, Koba CEO Ben Vallerine says the company is strategically positioned in proven mining regions, which combines district-scale exploration upside with a clear focus on minerals vital to clean energy and advanced technology, including tin.
On 28 January, Koba released results from a reconnaissance rock chip sampling program undertaken at the Stannary Hills Tin-Tungsten Project in Queensland during late 2025. The company collected 51 samples across four high-priority prospects.
With drilling preparations well advanced at both prospects, Koba is positioned to start drilling in late Q1 2026 positioning itself to unlock the significant potential of the Stannary Hills Project.
As Vallerine tells this news service, the initial field programs at the Stannary Hills and Mt Garnet Tin-Tungsten projects confirm extensive, ‘high-grade’ tin mineralisation at surface.
Rock chip assays at Stannary Hills have returned grades of up to 26.1% Sn. At the Kitchener and Jiminy prospects, widespread ‘high-grade’ tin mineralisation at surface, is supported by strong historical production. At Jiminy a large, untested tin-in-soil anomaly extending over 1.5km coincident with ‘high-grade’ rock chip samples, presents numerous compelling drill targets, the CEO says.
Los Elementos in Spain, Tasmania
Elementos (ASX:ELT) is an explorer/developer with tin projects including the Cleveland project in Tasmania and the Oropesa project in Spain. The company is advancing feasibility studies with planned production in coming years.
As reported by Mining.com.au, earlier in February 2026 Elementos entered a binding agreement with L1 Capital to conduct a private placement, raising $29.5 million to advance the Oropesa Tin Project Spain towards a final investment decision (FID).
Chairman Andy Greig says alongside Metals X, L1 Capital represents the second major investor to enter the company’s share register over the past nine months. In May 2025, Elementos appointed Metals X Executive Director Brett Smith and CFO Daniel Broughton as additional directors of the company, following an issue of 58.28 million shares.
The company recently increased its resource estimate at the Cleveland Tin Project in Tasmania by 100%. The inferred resource now sits at 8.49 million tonnes @ 0.24% tungsten trioxide at a cut-off grade of 0.175% tungsten trioxide, increasing the contained tungsten tonnage to 20,610 tonnes from 10,360 tonnes in the 2014 resource estimate.
Tungsten trioxide feed grades have increased to 0.98% from an ore sorting testwork program last year that determined 0.25% tungsten trioxide. This represents a 410% increase in grade uplift, as well as an 87% increase in metal recovery and a 79% increase in mass rejection.
Managing Director Joe David says Cleveland’s resource estimate increase represents an “important step forward for the project and strengthens the foundation for future technical and economic assessments”.
White Metals X is a major investor in Elementos, through the Bluestone Mines Tasmania joint venture, the company also has a 50% interest in the Renison tin mine in Tasmania – one of Australia’s primary tin producing operations, which accounts for 67% of the country’s tin ore reserves. It also holds a minority interest in the Taronga tin project.
Renison achieved near record total tin production of 3,319 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate for Q4 2025, just 10 tonnes below the all-time quarterly record. Metals X’s 50% share of production was 1,660 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate.
December 2025 tin production of 1,318 tonnes was the highest monthly production for Metals X on record, supported by higher mined grades, improved plant stability and stronger metallurgical performance.
Following on from the record tin production in 2024, the company says Renison mine reserves remain strong with total Renison Bell proved and probable reserve as of 31 March 2025 at 7.505Mt at 1.37% Sn for 102,720 tonnes of contained tin (taking into account depletion for mining over the previous 12 months).
Stellar strategy in Tasmania
Meanwhile, Stellar Resources (ASX:SRZ) is developing the Heemskirk Tin Project in western Tasmania, with long-term ambitions toward production. In August 2025, Stellar signed a memorandum of understanding with Hartree, Allegiance Mining and Avebury to investigate commercial options for processing ore from Heemskirk at the Avebury plant in Tasmania.
Hartree and Allegiance Mining and Avebury are the owners of the Avebury Nickel Mine and plant located less than 10km on a sealed bitumen road from Heemskirk.
Avebury has been one of several options the company is considering to use existing infrastructure in the area, as part of a Prefeasibility Study (PFS) to bring Heemskirk into development.
The PFS forms part of an assessment for a standalone project to existing regional infrastructure, or a combination of both. The study aims to advance Stellar’s plans by improving on the base-case Scoping Study, which outlined production of 1,900 tonnes a year over a 12-year mine life.
Other ASX companies with tin potential or byproduct exposure are Aus Tin Mining (ASX:ANW), Enterprise Metals (ASX:ENT), Havilah Resources (ASX:HAV), and Korab Resources (ASX:KOR).
Tinkering with tin: Canada and Bolivia
There’s a handful of companies listed on the TSX and TSX-V with exposure to tin. Some companies like Tinka Resources (TSX-V:TK) are not tin-focused but include tin in polymetallic project resource statements. Tinka is planning to conduct a ground geophysical survey and magnetotellurics in Q2 2026 at the Silvia Gold-Copper Project in Peru, after completing a diamond drilling program.
The surveys will target zones of greater sulphide concentration, following up the drilled areas once access allows after the wet season. The Silvia Project, covering 10,906 hectares, is located adjacent to the Ayawilca Zinc-Silver-Tin Project in central Peru.
Another Canadian company with tin exposure is TinOne Resources, which is focused on advancing significant tin projects in northeast Tasmania (Aberfoyle and Great Pyramid).
Tincorp Metals (TSX:TIN) owns tin-zinc-silver projects in Bolivia, including Porvenir and SF Tin in the Bolivian tin belt, while Eloro Resources (TSX:ELO) holds interests in the Iska Iska polymetallic complex also in Bolivia, which includes significant tin alongside silver and other metals.
And Adex Mining (TSX-V:ADE) owns the Mount Pleasant tin deposit in New Brunswick, described as one of North America’s largest tin deposits.
Tin occurs in both primary and secondary ore deposits. Primary deposits typically occur within granite or within associated pegmatites or aplites. Deposits also occur associated with the margins of these intrusive rocks as veins, disseminations, skarns or carbonate replacements generated by tin-bearing fluids derived from the granite magmas. Carbonate-replacement deposits (such as found in western Tasmania) form some of the largest tin deposits in Australia.
Cassiterite (SnO2) is by far the most important tin ore in all deposits. Small amounts of tin are also recovered from sulphide minerals such as stannite (Cu2FeSnS4).
Secondary tin deposits (placers) come from the weathering and erosion of primary tin occurrences and deposits, where cassiterite readily forms residual concentrations owing to its density and chemical resistance.
With demand for tin continuing to surge, regions like Australia, Bolivia, and elsewhere beyond the DRC and Myanmar are emerging as potential hotspots for upcoming tin exploration activity. Watch this space.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: iStock
