Mpama South enters tin-in-concentrate production
Alphamin Resources Corp has brought its major mine expansion at Bisie, DR Congo, into production.
Alphamin’s Mpama South project is an expansion to the existing Mpama North mine at Bisie, which contributed 4% of the world’s mined tin supply in 2023. Mining at Mpama South and the construction of a second processing plant will increase the company’s annual output from approximately 12,500 tonnes in 2023 to 20,000 tonnes tin-in-concentrate. The combined plant output capacity is 25,000 tonnes contained tin per annum.
The company announced on 27 May 2024 that the new Mpama South processing facility has been producing a saleable tin concentrate since 14 May. This comes just over two years after Alphamin declared the maiden Mineral Resource Estimate and Preliminary Economic Assessment for Mpama South in March 2022.
The facility has produced 159 t contained tin since 17 May and is now operating at targeted recovery rates. The first ore was processed at the plant on 29 April as the final stages of commissioning were completed and the company focused on achieving consistent throughput and producing at targeted processing recoveries.
The first production of a saleable concentrate from the new Mpama South plant is a major milestone for Alphamin, who first entered production in 2019 with the Mpama North project, and a significant development for the industry. The company now holds one of the largest mined tin production capacities globally.
