According to tin organisation ITRI, the rise in price to above US$26,000/tonne has come not as a result of a buying increase, but because there is still a dearth of companies selling tin in the current uncertain financial climate.
News from Indonesia suggests that the country plans to set a monthly price floor for its coal and minerals including tin, nickel and copper production - starting in October 2010, while the ban on tin mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo could, according to Reuters, be lifted by the end of October. The ban currently affects the North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema provinces, which account for over 80% of the country's 14,000 tpy tin production.
"Two weeks from now, we will lift the ban, the date is not yet set but it should be between 15-20 October," minister of mines Martin Kabwelulu said. "We have succeeded in implementing the ban, we have stopped some of the illegal mining and put in place measures so that when we re-start we want to be sure that the production is coming from one known source and going to the next stage."