AfriTin Mining has completed the construction part of its Phase 1 expansion project at its Uis mine in Namibia, allowing the project to move into the commissioning stage, which will be conducted in two stages.
According to the miner, commissioning of the dry plant has already started and will be completed by the end of this month, while commissioning of the wet plant is scheduled for September.
The Phase 1 expansion project is targeting an increase in tin concentrate production of up to 67% to about 1,200 tonnes per year, with the current output expected to increase over four months.
“The AfriTin team has demonstrated remarkable resilience in completing the construction milestone for the Uis Phase 1 expansion project despite challenging market conditions and a difficult construction environment,” AfriTin Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Viljoen said on Monday.
“We aim to achieve a significant increase in revenue and reduction in unit cost through this expansion.”
The company is also planning to produce a lithium and tantalum by-products integrated with existing tin production facilities and the development of these potential revenue streams is being fast-tracked
“The expanded operation will provide an excellent platform for implementing our lithium and tantalum by-product strategies,” Viljoen said.
This comes as the company secured a N$100 million loan from the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) to boost production at Uis mine to a million tonnes per year in July, 2022.
The money, to be repaid over 10 years, will also be used to improve processing efficiency and reduce unit costs.
The Alternative Investment Market-listed miner in April announced that it had increased its Standard Bank working capital facility by N$40 million (£2 million) to N$75 million to buffer the increased capacity against any unexpected disruptions in global supply chains or shipping delays.
AfriTin Mining says it expects to generate over N$33.5 billion in revenue in the next five years from the expansion of its Uis mine in Namibia.
The company’s internally produced preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the Phase 2 expansion of the company’s flagship Namibian mine, indicates a significant yearly cash flow with rapid payback of 1.5 years from an open pit tin, lithium and tantalum mine.
AfriTin Mining Limited is an African tech-metals mining company with a portfolio of mining and exploration assets in Namibia and is dual-listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange.
