AfriTin completes geological mapping at Namibian tin project

16th March 2018 By: Simone Liedtke - Creamer Media Social Media Editor & Senior Writer

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Aim-listed tin miner AfriTin Mining has undertaken and completed detailed geological mapping over the V1 and V2 pegmatite bodies at its flagship asset Uis tin mine, in Namibia.

The V1 and V2 bodies were previously identified as priority targets for ore to supply the new, intermediary plant, based on an historical report for Iscor, by consultancy firm SRK in 1985.

The completed mapping programme confirms that the V1 pegmatite has a strike length at surface of more than 950 m and reveals that the centre of the mineralised body at V2 is thicker than initially though.

The programme further confirmed the presence of mineralisation throughout the unmined surface extensions of the V1 and V2 pegmatite bodies.

The information acquired during the mapping expedition, combined with the digital elevation model created from the stereo pair of satellite images, allowed for the creation of a three-dimensional (3D) geological model using Leapfrog software. The 3D model provides an outline of the V1 and V2 orebodies extending to a depth of 150 m, and although the level of confidence of the model outline reduces with increasing depth, indications are that the mineralisation continues past this depth.

The 3D geological model will be used to generate a block model from which a provisional mine production plan will be produced.

The results from this programme, the company states, qualitatively support the historic 14.6-million-tonne resource in the SRK report for the V1 and V2 pit.

The estimated run-of-mine feed to the plant is planned at 500 000 t/y.

At this rate, the company says the V1 and V2 pit could be the sole supplier of mineralisation to the plant for the first 29 years of production. However, it is AfriTin's stated intention to increase this production rate over the life of the mine.

"We are very pleased with the results of the geological work recently completed at Uis, as this supports the detailed work that was contained in the historical SRK report that produced a 70-year life-of-mine plan," said AfriTin CEO Anthony Viljoen.

"We believe the results provide a solid foundation on which AfriTin can base its mining programme, to resume early production at what was once the biggest hard rock tin mine in the world."