Uis Phase 1 Expansion: Construction Completed

RNS Number : 9385V

AfriTin Mining Ltd

15 August 2022

 

15 August 2022

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (MAR) as in force in the United Kingdom and pursuant to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service (RIS), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

AfriTin Mining Limited

("AfriTin" or the "Company")

Uis Phase 1 Expansion: Construction Completed

AfriTin Mining Limited (AIM: ATM), an African technology-metals mining company with a portfolio of mining and exploration assets in Namibia, announces a project update on the expansion of the processing plant at the Company's flagship polymetallic asset, the Uis Mine ("Uis").

Highlights:

· Construction for the Phase 1 Expansion completed;

· Commissioning scheduled to be complete by the end of September 2022;

· Production to increase by 67% (up to 1,200 tonnes of tin concentrate per annum);

· Lithium and tantalum by-product pilot facilities progress to detailed engineering phase; and

· REMINDER: Webinar: Unlocking AfriTin's Lithium Opportunity - 18 August 2022 10:00am BST.

Anthony Viljoen (CEO) commented:

"The AfriTin team has demonstrated remarkable resilience in completing the construction milestone for the Uis Phase 1 Expansion Project despite challenging market conditions and a difficult construction environment. We are extremely pleased with the progress and look forward to completing the production ramp-up.

We aim to achieve a significant increase in revenue and reduction in unit cost through this expansion. In addition, the expanded operation will provide an excellent platform for implementing our lithium and tantalum by-product strategies. Through our aggressive development programme, we plan to demonstrate the superior quality and scale of the Uis polymetallic deposit."

Project Overview

The Uis Phase 1 Expansion Project ("the Project") is targeting an increase tin concentrate production of up to 67%, (from 720 tonnes per annum to up to 1,200 tonnes per annum). The Project scope consists of a modular expansion of the current processing plant, leveraging existing bulk infrastructure services. Specifically, it involves the expansion of the crushing and screening circuits ("the dry plant") and construction of a fines ore stockpile prior to the concentrator. In addition, the Project addresses potential throughput constraints in the concentrator ("the wet plant") that could have resulted from the increased feed rate, as well as upgrades to the concentrate cleaning circuit to enhance tin recovery.

Construction and Commissioning Progress

Construction of the plant expansion circuits is now complete, allowing the Project to advance to the commissioning stage.

Commissioning of the new circuits is being implemented in two stages: firstly, the commissioning of the dry plant which has commenced and will be completed by end of August 2022, and secondly the commissioning of the wet plant, which is scheduled for the month of September 2022.

The commissioning process has been designed to minimise production disruption. There is a requirement to shutdown certain plant circuits to facilitate tie-ins with the existing plant but due to stockpiling and flexibility built into the current circuit, this is not expected to have a material impact on the production performance of the Company.

Figure 1 : Plant circuit additions (foreground) and the existing processing plant (background, right)

Production Ramp-up

The plant expansion is projected to increase the nameplate capacity from 60 tonnes of tin concentrate per month (720 tonnes per annum) to up to 100 tonnes per month (up to 1,200 tonnes per annum).  Current output is expected to expand progressively over four months.

Lithium By-product Development

The Company is planning to produce a lithium and tantalum by-products integrated with existing tin production facilities and the development of these potential revenue streams is being fast-tracked.

As such, an infill drilling programme is underway at the main V1/V2 pegmatite at Uis, to increase the confidence of the existing lithium and tantalum resource estimates for the deposit. In addition, projects to construct lithium and tantalum pilot plants have progressed to the detailed engineering phase. The Company will provide an update on this development programme in Q4 2022.

Lithium Webinar

The Company will host a webinar host a webinar presentation titled "Unlocking AfriTin's Lithium Opportunity" on Thursday, 18th August 2022 at 10:00am BST. Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet AFRITIN MINING LIMITED via:  https://www.investormeetcompany.com/afritin-mining-limited/register-investor

AfriTin Mining Limited	[phone]
Anthony Viljoen, CEO
Nominated Adviser	[phone]
WH Ireland Limited Katy Mitchell/Andrew de Andrade
Corporate Advisor and Joint Broker
H&P Advisory Limited Andrew Chubb Jay Ashfield Nilesh Patel	[phone]
Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited Ashton Clanfield Callum Stewart	[phone]
Tavistock Financial PR (United Kingdom)	[phone]
Jos Simson Emily Moss Cath Drummond

About AfriTin Mining Limited

Notes to Editors

AfriTin Mining Limited is a London-listed tech-metals mining company with a vision to create a portfolio of globally significant, conflict-free, producing assets. The Company's flagship asset is the Uis Tin Mine in Namibia, formerly the world's largest hard-rock open cast tin mine.

AfriTin is managed by an experienced board of directors and management team with a current strategy to ramp-up production at the Uis Tin Mine in Namibia to more than 10,000 tonnes of tin concentrate and 350,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate in a Phase 2 expansion, having reached Phase 1 commercial production in 2020. The Company strives to capitalise on the solid supply/demand fundamentals of tin and lithium by developing a critical mass of resource inventory, achieving production in the near term and further scaling production by consolidating assets in Africa.

 

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