BEIJING (Asian Metal) 19 Mar 21 - Owning Tibet Luobusa ferrochrome deposit, the only large chrome ore deposit in China, Tibet Mining Development Co., Ltd., will resume the exploitation of chrome ore in late March and expects to produce at least 15,000t of chrome ore in April, a source from this company revealed to Asian Metal.

The source stated, "We will resume chrome ore mining in late March as it is getting warm and we expect to exploit about 15,000-20,000t in April." The source mentioned that they plan to produce about 100,000t this year, higher than the volume of nearly 60,000t last year. They mainly produce chrome raw ore 45%min and used the material to produce HC ferrochrome last year with few for sales, but this year, they will sell the material as they halted HC ferrochrome production. With no material in hand, they don't make quotation now. In view of limited deals of chrome ore, they expect chrome ore prices would be flat in the coming week.

The company produced about 50,000t of chrome ore in 2019 and nearly 60,000t in 2020, expecting the output in 2021 to reach around 100,000t.

On Thursday, mainstream prices for South African chrome concentrate 40%min stood at RMB30.5-31.5/dmtu (USD4.68-4.84/dmtu) in Tianjin warehouse in China, down by RMB0.5/dmtu (USD0.08/dmtu) from late last week.