Australian tin exploration company Elementos has signed an industrial test-work partnership agreement with Atlantic Copper for the Oropesa tin project in Cordoba Province, Andalucia Autonomous Region, Spain.
The partnership will evaluate the potential for increased tin production and recovery at the project.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Under the agreement, Atlantic Copper will fund the production of a laboratory sample of tin concentrate from Oropesa’s lower-grade ore and process waste.
The subsequent test-work by Atlantic Copper will assess the feasibility of smelting this concentrate into tin metal products at Atlantic Copper’s CirCular plant, situated 245km from the Oropesa open-cut mine at Port of Huelva.
The CirCular plant is a flagship circular economy initiative with an investment exceeding €410m ($448m).
The plant is designed to process approximately 60,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of nonferrous metal shreds and has been declared of ‘strategic interest’ by the Regional Government of Andalusia. It is expected to become operational in the first quarter of 2026.
Elementos managing director Joe David said: “This agreement shows the interest of Atlantic Copper as a potential future off-taker in the Oropesa Tin Project.
“This agreement funds the study of a significant value-accretive opportunity which has the potential to deliver higher metallurgical recoveries, which in-turn increases the utilisation of mineral resources and removes further metal content in waste and reject streams.”
Elementos, through its Spanish subsidiary Minas de Estaño de España, is working on developing the Oropesa tin project.
The project is advancing towards its definitive feasibility study, expected this month, and is in the process of obtaining major project approvals.
Oropesa is recognised as a ‘state significant project’ and holds ‘strategic significance’ for the EU’s plan to source local supplies of critical minerals. It is set to be Europe’s first major tin mine with access to key markets.
The project is projected to produce an average of 5,400tpa of tin concentrate, which equates to around 1% of the global tin market supply and 100% of Europe’s domestic mined supply.
In August 2024, Elementos secured four tenements in the Cordoba Province of Spain, bolstering the company’s position around the Oropesa tin project.
