AfriTin eyes Phase 1 expansion completion

The potential addition of lithium and tantalum production in the Phase 1 expansion will help the company to lower operating costs by incorporating by-product credits. AfriTin Mining has one eye on the completion of its Phase 1 Expansion project, backed by continued strong performance at its Uis mine in Namibia.
The company’s production figures for the final quarter of the 2021-2022 Financial Year (FY2022) are extremely positive. Compared with the previous quarter, processing rates and tin recovery increased some 4% and 5% respectively. However, tin production fell due to lower grades in the ore, a result of the natural orebody grade variation. Despite this, contained tin fell by just 2 tonnes (1%) quarter-on-quarter.
The continued strength in AfriTin results can be attributed to the fact that the processing plant continually exceeds design parameters. The design processing rate (80 tonnes per hour) and tin recovery (60%) have been consistently surpassed throughout FY2022, with averages of 92 tonnes per hour and 62% respectively. Both results are clear improvements on the previous year, up some 39% and 34%, respectively.
With these strong results, AfriTin produced some 497 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate during FY2022, some 61% more than in the previous year. Processing improvements have also resulted in lower operating costs. These averaged US$ 25,209/tonne in FY2022 – significantly lower than the average achieved tin price of US$ 38,604/tonne.
Despite the positive results, the company continues to look ahead. The Phase 1 Expansion Project is currently underway, which is estimated to increase tin concentrate production by some 67%. Construction is expected to be completed between September and November 2022, although the company is facing challenges due to global supply chain shortages. Exploration drilling is also in progress to add further confidence to lithium and tantalum mineralisation estimates. Results are expected in Q3 of 2022.
AfriTin’s strong performance throughout FY2022 continues to add confidence that the company can smoothly increase the size of the operations at Uis, first with the Phase 1 Expansion Project, and then with the Phase 2 growth that could see the company produce some 10,000 tonnes of tin concentrate.