Tin
The solder that holds electronics together: a small, volatile market where a few mines and smelters can move the world price.
Base metals · No. 11
- US critical 2025
- India critical 2023
- HHI 1,349 · unconcentrated
On Indonesia's Bangka island, divers breathing through air hoses dredge the seabed for tin that ends up as solder in electronics.
Chart: Illustration: Tin
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Tin comes almost entirely from cassiterite, found in granite lodes in Bolivia, Peru and southern China and in sands washed from them, which Indonesia dredges offshore.
Three things to know
- Indonesia banned raw tin exports in 2003, years before it applied the same policy to other minerals.
- Myanmar's tin output fell from about 20,000 tonnes in 2024 to an estimated 12,000 in 2025.
- The United States has not mined tin since 1993 or smelted it since 1989.
The journey
- 1 CassiteriteTin oxide in placers or hard-rock lodes
- 2 ConcentrationHeavy grains separated by gravity
- 3 SmeltingReduced with carbon
- 4 Tin ingotRefined metal for exchange delivery
- 5 End usesSolder, tinplate and tin chemicals