Chinese smelters continue to experience difficulty sourcing material as enforced mine closures and declining imports of concentrate from Myanmar impact the market. Mines in Inner Mongolia have been undergoing safety inspections following a fatal accident at the Baiyinchagan mine, operated by Yinman Mining. On 23 February, a commuter bus carrying mine workers crashed, killing 21 people and injuring another 29. The mine produced some 7,000 tonnes of tin concentrate in 2018, around 8 of Chinese domestic production, and is expected to remain closed for the remainder of 2019. Safety inspections, which forced other mines in the area to pause their operations, were completed in the second half of March. As a result of this incident, Chinese mine production is estimated to have fallen by 12 relative to last quarter, and tin-in-concentrate production is expected to decline this year, rather than continue the recent upward trend, as previously forecast.
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