The Karuruma tin smelter is a tin

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...

plant in the

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

n capital,

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...

, currently operated by the company LuNa Smelter Ltd. The plant was previously operated by Phoenix Metal Ltd. The Karuruma tin smelter was built in the early 1980s to produce tin from concentrate coming from the ''Société des Mines du Rwanda'' (SOMIRWA). SOMIRWA managed the smelter until 1985 when it went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

. The smelter was reopened at the end of 1990 by a company called ''ALICOM'' but was closed again in April 1994 when the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

against the Tutsis started. The Government of Rwanda, who owned the smelter, sold it as part of its

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

program. The plant is located near Kigali, the Rwandan capital.

Company history under NMC Metallurgie

In 2002 The Tin

Smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including Silver mining#Ore processing, silver, iron-making, iron, copper extracti ...

has been bought by NMC Metallurgie. Until end of 2003 the technical teams worked on the investment and maintenance in order to repair the factory, import and install the missing

machinery A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecule ...

, restart the smelting activity with an optimisation of the process. In June and December 2003 tests have been done with success and the

industrial production Industrial production is a measure of output of the industrial sector of the economy. The industrial sector includes manufacturing, mining, and utilities. Although these sectors contribute only a small portion of gross domestic product (GDP), the ...

was ready to start by the end of 2003. In 2005 the company decided to change the name of the company to "Phoenix Metal" and to change also the memorandum of association. The price of electricity, the power cut and a problem of quantity of row material had obliged to stop the smelting activity. In 2006, the company tested a new process based on an

exothermic process In thermodynamics, an exothermic process () is a thermodynamic process or reaction that releases energy from the system to its surroundings, usually in the form of heat, but also in a form of light (e.g. a spark, flame, or flash), electricity ( ...

. Those tests were a technical success but the second increase of the price of the electricity in December 2005 and the remaining problem of quantity of raw material were not covered by the positive aspects of the new process. Five years after the

, a complete technical and financial audit has been conducted by the

Privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

to see if the conditions of the contract were respected by both parties. It has been decided between the parties, that Phoenix Metal haven‟t any more obligation. Phoenix Metal has promised to keep in mind smelting and will do a special effort to restart the smelter at first opportunity. In 2017, the company entered receivership and was bought by the Rwandan government for RWF1.2 billion.

The Factory

The tin smelter was built in 1980 by the Belgians. The target of this project was to smelt all the

cassiterite Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite was the chief tin ore throughout ancient history and remains t ...

from this area. The normal capacity of the smelter was 10 tons of cassiterite per day and has been increase to 15 tons per day. The factory is equipped with 2 electrical

arc furnace An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a Industrial furnace, furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc. Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundry, foundries for producing ...

. The capacity of the furnace is between 10 and 15 tons of mix per day. Three refining furnaces are for the control of the impurities. Two segregation furnaces are used for the recycling of the scrap.

Ore

Treatment

Some Rwandese producers have not facilities or knowledge for cleaning minerals. Phoenix Metal proposes them to clean and prepare the mineral for export considering the details of the supplier export contract. For that, Phoenix Metal has Crusher, Mills, Spirals, Shacking Tables dry and wet, Magnetic separation (

Magnetic separation Magnetic separation is the process of separating components of mixtures by using a magnet to attract magnetic substances. The process that is used for magnetic separation separates non-magnetic substances from those which are magnetic. This techniq ...

Trading

With the smelting activities not running, Phoenix Metal has started an activity of trading. The main ores trade by Phoenix Metal are: 1.

Cassiterite Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite was the chief tin ore throughout ancient history and remains t ...

2. Wolfram 3.

Tantalite The mineral group tantalite Fe,_manganese.html"_;"title="iron.html"_;"title="iron">Fe,_manganese">Mn)Tantalum">Ta2oxygen.html" ;"title="manganese">Mn)Tantalum.html" ;"title="iron">Fe,_manganese.html" ;"title="iron.html" ;"title="iron">Fe, manga ...

Beryl Beryl ( ) is a mineral composed of beryllium aluminium silicate with the chemical formula Be3Al2Si6O18. Well-known varieties of beryl include emerald and aquamarine. Naturally occurring, hexagonal crystals of beryl can be up to several mete ...

Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

Slag Phoenix Metal worked with one customer named Sideral Development. Sideral pre-financed Phoenix Metal for Minerals purchase.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Phoenix Metal Homepage
Non-renewable resource companies established in 2004 Mining in Rwanda