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Bisie tin output rises as plant performance improves

12th November 2019

By: Simone Liedtke

Creamer Media Social Media Editor & Senior Writer

     

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TSX-V- and JSE-listed Alphamin Resources’ Bisie mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo produced 2 345 t of contained tin in the three months ended September 30 – a 269% increase compared with the quarter ended June 30.

The higher output was attributed to improved plant recoveries and higher tin grades from underground.

Plant performance increased by 50%, with overall recoveries improving to 65% during August and September, against targeted levels of about 72%.

Tin grades increased to an average of 5.6% tin in the quarter but are expected to taper off to between 4% and 5% tin during the fourth quarter.

Bisie, which achieved commercial production on September 1, achieved all-in sustaining costs (AISC) of $11 518/t of contained tin sold during September.

Meanwhile, mining was currently taking place in an area high in arsenopyrite, resulting in elevated levels of arsenic in concentrate which attracted high smelter penalties and affected plant recoveries, Alphamin noted on Tuesday.

This was forecast to continue into November and December, following which mining from areas containing lower arsenic together with modifications to the processing plant should dilute the impact, the miner added.

Additionally, and subsequent to quarter-end, Alphamin reported that a major bridge had collapsed about 53 km south east of Kisangani along the main provincial road used for exporting all concentrate and importing major consumables.

The time to repair the bridge is estimated at eight weeks until early January 2020.

As a result, Alphamin said that it had advanced “various logistical solutions aimed at maintaining the flow of inbound consumables and the export of some concentrates”.

The outbound flow of concentrates may be limited during the bridge repair; however, Alphamin’s tin concentrate offtake customer has agreed, subject to signature, to provisional invoicing ex-mine, which was previously on arrival of tin concentrates in Kampala, Uganda.

This agreement is expected to improve the company’s liquidity during this period.

In terms of financials, Alphamin on Tuesday reported that the higher than expected levels of arsenic in the plant feed in the fourth quarter are negatively impacting on processing recoveries.

As a result, the miner expects contained tin production for the quarter ending December 31 to be at the lower end of the previous guidance range of between 2 000 t and 2 200 t.

Changes to the process flow, reagents and operating practices were required to improve the performance of the processing plant in rejecting arsenic as an impurity. These changes were expected to be completed by year-end, Alphamin noted.

As a result of the high smelter penalties for arsenic in concentrate, together with increased interim logistical costs while the provincial road bridge is under repair, will increase the miner’s expected AISC to between $12 000/t and $13 000/t for the quarter ending December 31.

Further, with regard to the miner’s life-of-mine (LoM) optimisation plans, Alphamin’s three-year objective is to increase yearly tin production to over 12 000 t, within the lowest-quartile of the global AISC curve, and over an extended LoM.

The revised Mpama North LoM design and scheduling process is nearing completion following the previously announced change in mining method and an updated National Instrument 43-101 technical report is expected to be released by year-end.

Alphamin on Tuesday said a roadmap was being established to plan drilling work and mine studies for the Mpama South orebody, which is adjacent to Mpama North and 1 km away from the current tin processing facility.

This will include plant de-bottlenecking studies in pursuit of increasing the tin processing facility’s throughput to above original design.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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