JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – African Tantalum (Aftan) has sent the fourth shipment of high-purity tantalum from its Namibia Tantalite Investment mine to a North American tantalum consumer and end-user of tantalum ore.
Aftan, which is a subsidiary of Aim-listed Kennedy Ventures, on Friday said it has made significant progress on further exploration at the mine, with the first 100 drill core samples sent to ALS Group as part of the process to better understand the Homestead and Lepidolite orebodies.
“Operations at the mine continue at pace and the business remains in robust health, with our shipments continuing to improve in quality, satisfying our customer’s stringent requirements,” Kennedy CEO Larry Johnson said in a statement.
Initial environmental studies have also begun with two environmental groups engaged to consider the effects of a new tailings dam to increase water capacity for the mine.
Meanwhile, Aftan has made further additions to its team based at the mine, hiring John Fahy as interim CFO and Odilon Ilunga as a metallurgist.