AfriTin Mining has completed its Phase 1 Expansion Project at the Uis Mine in Namibia.
The Project commenced in September 2021, with construction completed in mid-September 2022 and commissioned a month later.
“We are extremely pleased to announce the completion of commissioning for our Uis Phase 1 Expansion Project. The beneficiation plant is performing well, and the production ramp-up from pre-expansion levels is going according to plan. The potential production of lithium and tantalum by-products is also expected to benefit from the expansion of the throughput capacity of the plant, since these minerals will be extracted from the existing processing streams,” AfriTin CEO Anthony Viljoen said.
“Our team has once again demonstrated the ability to deliver value accretive projects. Our development strategy is centered on driving costs down whilst expanding our mineral resource base, production volumes and product portfolio of tin, lithium and tantalum with the concomitant increase in revenue streams. We remain committed to our goal of becoming a tier-one producer of technology metals.”
The Expansion Project is targeting an increase in production at Uis from approximately 780 tonnes per annum to 1200 tpa tin concentrate (470 tpa and 720 tpa tin contained in concentrate respectively).
The Project scope consists of a modular expansion of the current processing plant, leveraging existing bulk infrastructure services. Specifically, it involves the expansion of the crushing and screening circuits and construction of a fines ore stockpile prior to the concentrator.
The expansion of the dry plant will allow the operation to increase the feed rate of ore to the plant by approximately 50%, while the new stockpile provides buffer capacity before the concentrator to increase plant utilisation.
The company reports that as planned, the current daily production has now matched pre-expansion levels, and that the plant will be ramped up over the next three months to achieve continuous design throughput.
AfriTin Mining plans to raise N$854 million to fully fund its lithium and tantalum production at the Uis mine and expects to generate over N$33.5 billion in revenue in the next five years from the expansion of the mine.
AfriTin Mining Limited is an African tech-metals mining company with a portfolio of mining and exploration assets in Namibia and is dual-listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange.
