Name of the Project
Uis tin project.

Location
The Uis project consists of three project areas in the Erongo region of Namibia.

Client
AfriTin Mining.

Project Description
Uis has a non-Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant resource of 73-million tonnes grading 0.136% tin, and an additional 2.7-million tonnes at 0.015% tantalum pentoxide. AfriTin has undertaken a detailed mine design for the V1 and V2 pegmatite bodies, previously identified as priority targets, to supply feed to the new intermediary processing plant.

The design of the proposed Uis tin mine includes an initial five-year mine production schedule to start operations on the outcropping pegmatite bodies and existing excavations of the historical V1/V2 pits.

This in-house mine plan supports an overburden stripping ratio of less than one (overburden-to-ore ratio) and a fast ramp-up profile using conventional openpit mining methods.

Material will be liberated through drill-and-blast methods, while excavators and articulated dump trucks will be used to load and haul the ore.

The run-of-mine (RoM) feed to the processing plant, for this phase of development, is planned at 500 000 t/y, with expected production of 800 t/y of saleable tin concentrate. The target for the following phase is 5 000 t/y of tin concentrate.

The processing plant will be located close to the V1 and V2 pegmatite orebodies.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
Not stated.

Duration
Production is scheduled for the second half of 2018.

Latest Developments
AfriTin is on track to place its first tin concentrate onto the market in the fourth quarter of this year.

The Aim-listed company is going all out to put Africa, once the fourth-biggest exporter of tin, but now without an industrial-scale mine, back on the global tin map.

Following last year’s demerger from Bushveld Minerals, AfriTin raised £4.5-million at its initial public offering and then a further £6-million in May for the redevelopment of the Uis mine that previously was the biggest opencast tin mine in the world.

Now that the early phase of reproving that the company can extract cassiterite from the old mine workings is complete, AfriTin has advanced to what it calls the Phase 1 pilot plant, which involves recommercialising tin production at the former Iscor-owned mine.

Iscor mined more than 12 different pits and AfriTin is mining in a pegmatite field that runs for hundreds of kilometres with plenty of room for expansion.

The company’s focus is on the mine works plan that Iscor drew up with the help of mining consulting firm SRK in 1985. The systematic programme of firming up that data to comply with modern Jorc standards is inspiring new confidence in the resource base, which also hosts tantalum, niobium, lithium, beryllium and muscovite.

“We’ll be running a test phase on which of these are economical,” AfriTin CEO Anthony Viljoen has said.

Tin supply has been in deficit for the past four years. Older mines, like San Rafael, in Peru, are running out of ore and grade and environmental restrictions in Indonesia and China are taking tin out of the market.

However, while there are uncertainties over supply, industrial uses of tin in the solders on electronic boards is entrenched and new uses are emerging in capacitors that stop overheating in buttonless touch pads, electric vehicles, solar panels and even in lithium-ion batteries.

The Uis project will progress using the best technology, with the correct systems being implemented from inception.

“We’ve got a good commercial grade of tin and what we’re anticipating is that Phase 1 will not be as economical as Phase 2, but as we move into Phase 2, we’re wanting to be in the lowest quartile production,” Viljoen has noted.

AfriTin is considering in-country beneficiation.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Afritin Mining, tel +27 11 268 6555.