Alphamin’s Mpama South tin development progress
A total of 2,448m of underground development at Mpama South has been completed to date, of which 988m was achieved in Q3 2023 (Q2: 603m). The underground development rate increased by 64% during Q3 2023 as additional underground equipment arrived on site and more development ends became available.
The Mpama South adit from surface successfully advanced beyond the previously reported area of poor ground conditions and is expected to connect with the Mpama South underground workings by early November 2023.
The year-to-date development metres at Mpama South are in line with the Company’s updated two-year underground mine plan to achieve the targeted tin production expansion from FY2024. This plan requires ~1,200m of underground development at Mpama South during the quarter ending December 2023.
The erection of the new processing facility is progressing well, albeit poor road conditions and the impact of the damaged bridge have delayed container deliveries by approximately three weeks. As a consequence, the commissioning of the new processing plant may be delayed to January/February 2024.
The Alphamin project team, together with the existing site team, remains focussed on operational readiness preparation. This primarily involves recruitment and training of personnel, expansion of the laboratory and accommodation facilities and infrastructure, and increasing the supply chain to meet the additional production.
The Mpama South project is expected to increase combined annual tin production from
~12,000 tonnes to ~20,000 tonnes.
