Tin is one of the earliest metals known and used. Because of its hardening effect on copper, tin was used in bronze implements as early as 3,500 B.C., although the pure metal was not used until about 600 B.C. About 35 countries mine tin throughout the world. Nearly every continent has an important tin-mining country.
Tin is a relatively scarce element with an abundance in the earth's crust of about 2 parts per million (ppm), compared with 94 ppm for zinc, 63 ppm for copper, and 12 ppm for lead. Most of the world's tin is produced from placer deposits; at least one-half comes from Southeast Asia.
The only mineral of commercial importance as a source of tin is cassiterite (SnO2), although small quantities of tin are recovered from complex sulfides such as stanite, cylindrite, frankeite, canfieldite, and teallite.
Domestic reserves of tin are small, and significant domestic production has never occurred and seems unlikely to in the next few decades. Virtually all primary tin to meet U.S. requirements is imported largely from Southeast Asia and South America. This supply pattern has long existed and is expected to continue. About 35 countries are engaged in either tin mining or smelting and are dispersed widely throughout the world, in both free market and centrally planned economies.
Most tin mining and smelting occurs in developing countries. Historically, it was typical for tin mining to occur in a developing country, and then the tin concentrates were shipped thousands of miles away to a developed country to be smelted and then used. Since the 1950's, however, tin mining and smelting have been typically performed in the same developing country, and the refined tin is then shipped to the industrialized countries to be consumed.
The United States is the world's largest user of primary tin. Domestically, scrap tin has long been an important factor in meeting domestic needs, supplying about 20% of total tin demand. Scrap tin originates both from detinned tinplate and, more importantly, from the various alloyed forms of tin.
Tin was last in surplus in 2008, largely due to a slump in demand caused by the global recession, a Metal Bulletin Research article notes. Tin deficits could narrow somewhat this year, but seem likely to persist over the longer term, according to Meir. “For 2013, we’re expecting a 4,000-metric-ton deficit for tin after an 8,000-metric-ton deficit in 2012. There are lots of new tin projects, but they’re small and scattered, with some in England, some in Australia and others in Latin America. They still need many more years of development.