JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Bushveld Minerals on Tuesday said the scoping study for the development of its Mokopane tin project indicated robust after-tax economics.

The company reported that the scoping study had confirmed the project’s parameters to be in line with the company’s project development criteria, which included low cost curve positioning, a proven path to near-term production, low capital expenditure (capex) and scalability.

According to the scoping study, for a base case production scenario of 691 000 t/y run-of-mine, the project’s capex would amount to $16.7-million, with low operating costs of about $14.28/t.

The project’s pretax net present value (NPV) was estimated at $18-million, while the after-tax NPV was expected to be $10-million, with an average earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin of 31.5% over the current 12 year mine life.

Project payback would be two years from the start of mining.

"When Bushveld listed in 2012, we began with a small mineral resource on the Groenfontein deposit of 5 995 t contained tin, stating our intent to build a critical mass of tin resource inventory and set up an independent Africa-focused tin platform. 

“We have since grown the mineral resource three-fold to 18 500 t of contained tin across two adjacent deposits, with a positive scoping study offering attractive economics, simple processing methods and low capex requirements,” Bushveld CEO Fortune Mojapelo commented.

He added that the company believed there was significant potential to further increase the mineral resource base through additional resource drilling on Groenfontein and Zaaiplaats, and prove up the other identified targets in the Mokopane tin project area and the Marble Hall tin project.

“Our stated objective remains to grow our Greenhills portfolio to critical mass with the economics supporting a portfolio of tin assets capable of supporting a standalone tin company.

“This scoping study demonstrates progress towards that goal and we are confident the identified targets will enable us to do so long term, while we prioritise, in the short term, the development of the Bushveld vanadium project in the short to medium term,” Mojapelo said.