The first shipment of tin concentrate and the first revenues from the Uis Tin Mine in three decades marks a significant milestone for the company and the Erongo region of Namibia - Anthony Viljoen, chief executive
Uis is a formerly producing mine that was shut down more than 20 years ago when the tin price hit a nadir.
AfriTin (LON:ATM) has now got the operation back up and running again, at least on a trial mining basis.
According to a historic resource estimate prepared by SRK, Uis has more than 70mln tonnes of ore containing 95,000 tonnes of tin.
The mine plan worked out by SRK says that that’s enough to allow for production through to 2063, although initially, AfriTin has much more modest goals.
In February, AfriTin revealed that it had discovered significant lithium, grades in addition to tin, in pegmatites in the ML 133 Licence, located in the Nainais area of Nambia.
ML 133 is outside of the current development area at the Uis tin mine.
In November 2019, AfriTin raised £3.8mln through the issue of unsecured and convertible loan notes to tin trader AfriMet Resources and major shareholder The Orange Trust.
Money raised from the loan will fund this ramp-up, phase 2 studies and also tests on the lithium discovery within the pegmatite ore body.
The notes have a term of 18 months and coupon of 10% per annum payable on redemption or conversion, which is at a price of 4p per share or a 36% premium to the previous night's close.
One of the lenders AfriMet is a subsidiary of Switzerland-based ferrous and non-ferrous commodity merchant, Vanomet, a major trader of 3T metals (tin, tantalum and tungsten) and minerals sourced from Africa.
How are operations going?
AfriTin has now begun selling concentrate, in line with the parameters set by an off-take agreement signed in August 2019.
The concentrate is trucked from the mine to the port of Walvis Bay in Namibia, and then shipped to Thailand. The company is paid 80% of the value upon bill of lading at Walvis Bay.
Nameplate capacity is 60 tonnes of tin concentrate per month.
What the boss says; Anthony Viljoen, chief executive
“We have been collaborating with AfriMet to establish multiple channels for revenue generation from the trade in tin and tantalum products.
“We will continue to deliver this operation as we ramp up production to nameplate of 60 tonnes of tin concentrate per month.
SOURCE: Proactive Investors
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