COMMERCIAL CONTROL OF TIN SMELTING
British capital controls tin smelters with a yearly capacity of approximately 88,300 tons of tin a year. These are situated in England, Straits Settlements, and Australia. The tin deposits of undoubted British control can produce ore to furnish only 62,550 tons, so that England has a smelting capacity of 15,750 tons a year in excess of her supply.
The Dutch control the smelters, having a capacity of 16,000 tons, of their East Indian colonies, but the annual output of ore from these colonies is equivalent to 20,200 tons of tin, so that an excess of 4,200 tons must be smelted elsewhere, and most of this goes to the smelters in the Straits Settlements, which are English owned.
Chinese capital controls smelters that are seemingly capable of handling the entire output of China, about 12,000 tons of tin a year.
American capital, since the war, has developed tin smelters in the United States and Bolivia, which have an annual capacity of 18,000 metric tons. This capacity is being enlarged and should be able shortly to take care of the entire Bolivian tin output, provided it receives the ore. But Chilean capital has built a smelter at Arica which could handle about 10 per cent. of the Bolivian output, and if this smelter is favored by Chilean mine owners the American smelters may find themselves short of ore.
German capital is interested in tin smelters in Germany that have a producing capacity of 15,000 tons a year. All of the ore treated must be imported, but it hardly seems possible that much ore from outside sources can be expected for some time, as the smelting capacity of the world exceeds the output of the mines.
The tin-smelting capacity of the world is approximately 154,000 tons, whereas the world’s production of tin ore is equivalent to approximately 130,700 tons. It is evident that, unless greater production is forthcoming, some smelters will be idle, and it is a reasonable surmise that neither the British nor Dutch smelters will lack ore. The United States, owing to its favorable situation with respect to Bolivian supply, may hope to have a large part of its smelter capacity at work, though there is some question whether enough ore will be available to assure the maximum operation of the tin smelters in the United States.