AfriTin Mining says it expects to generate over N$33.5 billion in revenues 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.
“It’s an estimation. It’s not what it is currently. That is what phase two will look like in 5 years. So in five years’ time they will be building a plant which will be approximately 10-15 times bigger than the existing plant and obviously that will generate revenues from the sale of tin and as well as additional byproducts such as lithium and tantalum. If you bring back all that cash to be generated in today’s terms it will be US$2.1 billion. Those are our estimates,” AfriTin Chief Financial Officer, Rob Sewell, told The Brief.
“Obviously to get to those revenues they have to build a bigger plant, which will take five years or so.”
He said based on the PEA estimates, the project will require capital expenditure of N$7 billion (US$440million), including a 30% contingency.
“The US$440 million is what will be spent on the plant as well as the required infrastructure to meet the US$2.1 billion revenue targets,” Sewell said.
“This PEA shows outstanding economics and returns for the expansion and allows us to move forward with excitement to a full bankable feasibility. The fact we have successfully brought phase 1 into production allows us to significantly derisk phase 2 from the considerable learnings in building a new mine. Phase 2 will see AfriTin produce globally significant volumes of tin, lithium and tantalum which are vital in meeting the demands of the transition to a new efficient greener technology future,” Afritin CEO, Anthony Viljoen said.
The announcement by AfriTin comes as the company has set out to re-establish its mining operation in two phases: Phase 1 is a low capital, cash generating initial production facility, serving as a pilot for Phase 2, which is planned as a scaled-up version of the initial phase.
Both phases also aim to exploit the tantalum and lithium by-product potential of the deposit after the company has successfully established the tin producing circuits of Phase 1, with the by-product circuits in the design and testing stages, allowing the company to proceed with a feasibility study for the ultimate Phase 2, of which the PEA represents the first step.
The current Afritin Phase 1 operation produces approximately 850 tpa of tin concentrate, resulting in revenues of approximately N$319 million per annum (US$20 million and an EBITDA of approximately US$10 million pa).
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 Namibia Stock Exchange (NSX).
