AfriTin CEO Anthony Viljoen
Aim-listed tin miner AfriTin Mining has completed construction for the first phase expansion of the processing plant at the company’s flagship polymetallic Uis mine, in Namibia.
"The AfriTin team has [completed] the construction milestone for the Uis Phase 1 expansion project despite challenging market conditions and a difficult construction environment. We are . . . pleased with the progress and look forward to completing the production ramp-up. We aim to achieve a significant increase in revenue and reduction in unit cost through this expansion,” AfriTin CEO Anthony Viljoen said on August 15.
The company said commissioning of the plant was scheduled to be completed by the end of September, with production expected to increase by 67%, from 720 t/y up to 1 200 t/y of tin concentrate.
The project scope consisted of a modular expansion of the current processing plant, leveraging existing bulk infrastructure services. Specifically, it involved the expansion of the crushing and screening circuits, as well as construction of a fines ore stockpile prior to the concentrator.
In addition, the project addressed potential throughput constraints in the concentrator that could have resulted from the increased feed rate, as well as upgrades to the concentrate cleaning circuit to enhance tin recovery.
Commissioning of the new circuits is being implemented in two stages. The commissioning of the dry plant has already started and will be completed by end of August, while the commissioning of the wet plant is scheduled for September.
AfriTin said the commissioning process was designed to minimise production disruption. It said that, while there was a requirement to shut down certain plant circuits to facilitate tie-ins with the existing plant, owing to stockpiling and flexibility built into the current circuit, this was not expected to have a material impact on the production performance of the company.
The plant expansion is projected to increase the nameplate capacity from 60 t a month of tin concentrate up to 100 t a month. Current output is expected to expand progressively over four months.
Additionally, AfriTin said it is planning to produce lithium and tantalum by-products integrated with existing tin production facilities. The development of these potential revenue streams is being fast-tracked.
As such, an infill drilling programme is under way at the main V1/V2 pegmatite deposit at Uis to increase the confidence of the existing lithium and tantalum resource estimates.
In addition, projects to build lithium and tantalum pilot plants have progressed to the detailed engineering phase.
“The expanded operation will provide an excellent platform for implementing our lithium and tantalum by-product strategies. Through our . . . development programme, we plan to demonstrate the superior quality and scale of the Uis polymetallic deposit," Viljoen said.