811.6354/714a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Minister in Bolivia (Jenkins)

42. An agreement has been reached between the Metals Reserve Company, a subsidiary of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and the Bolivian producers under which the Metals Reserve Company contracts for the purchase of tin concentrates containing 18,000 long tons of fine tin per year for 5 years.

The price basis as agreed upon is 1½ cents per pound less than the Metals Reserve Company’s buying price or, in the absence of such a price, 1½ cents less than the current New York price. The treatment charges, penalties for impurities, and premiums are approximately the same as those provided in European contracts for Bolivian tin. Price includes delivery charges to United States port. Metals Reserve Company agrees to accept not more than 20 percent of total deliveries in concentrates of 18 to 35 percent tin content and specifies the percentages to be delivered in other grades.

Metals Reserve will advance 80 percent of purchase price on delivery at Chilean ports and an additional 10 percent if concentrates are held at those ports more than 4 months.

It is expected that settlement of final details and the drawing up of a defiinitive contract will be concluded shortly. This arrangement is to be entered into between the Metals Reserve Company as buyer, and Hochschild, Aramayo, the Mining Bank, and the Association of Medium Producers as sellers, and does not include any ores from Patiño properties.

The contract is to be approved and performance guaranteed by the Bolivian Government.

Hull