METALS-Shanghai tin prices surge 10% on Alphamin's mining halts in Congo

SHANGHAI, March 14 (Reuters) - Tin price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange hit the upper limit and surged 10% on Friday as Alphamin Resources AFM.V halted its tin mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Alphamin Resources said on Thursday that activities at Bisie tin mine in Congo's North Kivu had been halted "after insurgent militant groups have recently advanced westward in the direction of the mine's location in the DRC occupying the towns of Nyabiondo", the company said in a statement.

Shanghai's most active tin contract SSNcv1 surged 10% to 291,510 yuan ($40,212.16) a metric ton on Friday, as 0219 GMT.

"Bisie tin mine is the world's third-largest tin mine, contributing to 6% of the world's tin ores in 2024," said Wang Weiwei, an analyst from Yide Futures, said in a note.

"It's not clear when Alphamin will resume operation. Meanwhile, as Wa State in Myanmarlooks into restarting their mining operations, any significant increase in tin supply stemming from this area isn't expected to be evident until May 2025. Given this potential delay in supply increase and the current tightness in supply, tin price could potentially see a bullish trend in the near future."

LME copper CMCU3 was up 0.4% at $9,817.5 a ton, LME aluminium CMAL3 was flat at $2,703.5 a ton, lead CMPB3 gained 0.6% to $2,084.5, tin CMSN3 rose 2.9% to $36,945 and nickel CMNI3 rose 1.2% to $16,710.

SHFE copper SCFcv1 climbed 0.8% to 80,180 yuan ($10,957.18)a metric ton, SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was up 0.1% to 21,000 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 added 0.6% to 24,235 yuan, lead SPBcv1 jumped 0.2% to 17,605 yuan and nickel SNIcv1 added 1.0% to 134,800 yuan.

($1 = 7.2493 Chinese yuan renminbi)

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