Australian tin exploration company Elementos has completed a definitive feasibility study (DFS) at its Oropesa tin project in Cordoba Province, Andalucia, Spain, affirming the project’s technical, environmental and economic viability.
Elementos’ Spanish subsidiary, Minas de Estaño de España (MESPA), delivered the study.
The study has established a maiden ore reserve estimate of 15.9 million tonnes (mt) at 0.36% tin, derived from a previously reported mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 19.6mt at 0.39% tin.
The ore reserve estimate represents 81% of the MRE.
The DFS aligns with the recent environmental and mining licence permit applications. It outlines a path for the development of the Oropesa tin project, which is set to become the only mine-to-metal vertically integrated tin operation in the EU.
The study is based on a 1.4mt per annum open-cut mining operation with expected annual production of 3,405 tonnes (t) of contained tin as ingot, targeting the European market over a 12-year mine life.
The mine is expected to bring in A$996m ($629.6m) in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) over its operating life.
The project has an average life of mine (LOM) all-in-sustaining-cost of $15,000/t tin metal.
The DFS estimates capital costs of the project at €149m ($156m), including a 10.4% contingency. Around 60% of the total capital cost is covered by a lump-sum turn-key price developed with Duro Felguera under an early contractor involvement agreement.
Economic assessments in the DFS are based on a long-term London Metal Exchange (LME) referenced tin price of $30,000/t, projecting a pre-tax ungeared net present value (NPV) at an 8% discount rate of A$270m, a pre-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 26% and a payback period of 2.7 years.
At the current spot LME tin price of $38,575/t, the project’s pre-tax ungeared NPV jumps to A$587m, with a pre-tax IRR of 42% and a payback period of only 1.7 years.
In March 2025, Elementos announced that MESPA has secured an extension of its rights over a key Oropesa tin project tenement, for which it holds the investigation permit.
