Last checked at 5 Aug 2020 07:00
5 August 2020
AfriTin Mining Limited
("AfriTin" or the "Company")
Operational Update
AfriTin Mining Limited (AIM: ATM), an African tin mining company with its flagship asset, the Uis Tin Mine ("Uis") in Namibia, is pleased to provide an operational update.
Highlights:
▪ Monthly production of tin concentrate for July 2020 increased to 35 tonnes, representing a month-on-month increase of 79%;
▪ Sixth shipment of tin concentrate dispatched on 3 August 2020;
▪ Tin concentrate assays averaged 65% contained tin, resulting in 93% payability;
▪ Debottlenecking of fines dewatering circuit nearing completion; and
▪ Offtake agreement with Thailand Smelting and Refining Corporation ("Thaisarco") renewed for a further 12 months.
Monthly production of tin concentrate from the Company's Phase 1 mining and processing facility at Uis increased to 35 tonnes for the month of July 2020. Tin concentrate production for the year to date totals 112 tonnes. The monthly production performance for 2020 is tabulated below. For Stage I of Phase 1, the Company is targeting the processing of 45,000 tonnes of ore processed per month, at a rate of 80 tonnes per hour, for the production of 60 tonnes of tin concentrate per month.
Table 1: Monthly performance from the Uis Phase 1 pilot plant during 2020.
Description | Units | 2020 | ||||||
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr * | May | Jun | Jul | ||
Plant Availability | % | 59% | 60% | 64% | 59% | 65% | 69% | 73% |
Plant Utilisation | % | 58% | 66% | 68% | 54% | 70% | 76% | 88% |
Plant Processing Rate | tonnes per hour | 45 | 51 | 52 | 41 | 48 | 49 | 65 |
Ore Processed | tonnes | 11,420 | 14,043 | 16,866 | 9,618 | 16,217 | 18,551 | 31,324 |
Tin Concentrate | tonnes | 11.4 | 11.0 | 12.3 | 11.1 | 11.2 | 19.7 | 35.3 |
Tin Contained in Concentrate | tonnes | 7.4 | 7.1 | 8.4 | 7.7 | 7.2 | 12.6 | 22.7 |
* Operations curtailed due to COVID-19 government lockdown regulations
AfriTin has dispatched its sixth shipment of tin concentrate from Uis. The tin in concentrate grade has averaged 65%, representing a premium product largely free from deleterious elements. The Company is achieving an average payability of 93%, referring to the percentage of the LME tin price realised for the tin contained in concentrate.
The offtake agreement with Thaisarco has been renewed for a further 12 months and the Company is looking forward to building on this robust relationship.
Initiatives to address bottlenecks in the processing plant circuits and expand production remain ongoing and on schedule. As a result of higher than anticipated fine material in the run-of-mine feed, improvements were required to rebalance material flows. During Q2 2020 improvement efforts have been focussed on the fines discard dewatering circuit, in particular the dewatering of grits (45 to 500 micron particles) and slimes (smaller than 45 micron particles). These modifications to the fines dewatering circuit are nearing completion and are expected to result in improved concentrator plant throughput.
The Company is continuing to operate the Uis Tin Mine at full scale despite ongoing COVID-19 measures in Namibia and South Africa. The health, safety and well-being of our employees, contractors and the local community are of utmost importance to the Company. All necessary steps to mitigate a possible outbreak have been taken, and the Company is pleased to report that there continue to be no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the Uis Tin Mine.
Change of Broker
As announced in the announcement dated 3 August 2020, the Company has appointed Turner Pope Investments as joint broker. At the same time, WH Ireland Limited has ceased to act as broker to the Company.
Anthony Viljoen, CEO of AfriTin Mining Limited commented:
"Despite operational challenges related to COVID-19 and the production ramp-up during the first half of 2020, the performance of our Uis operation is displaying improvement, which, together with the rebound in the tin price and the successful completion of our recent capital raising, provide a strong platform for the rest of 2020.
"We are delighted to have continued our relationship with offtaker, Thaisarco, and believe that this demonstrates confidence in our Company. Building on the results of our improvement initiatives, we expect to further expand production at Uis, while simultaneously advancing our project studies towards the full implementation of Phase 1."
For further information, please visit www.afritinmining.com or contact:
AfriTin Mining Limited |
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Anthony Viljoen, CEO | +27 (11) 268 6555 |
Nominated Adviser |
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WH Ireland Limited Katy Mitchell James Sinclair-Ford | +44 (0) 207 220 1666 |
Corporate Advisor and Joint Broker | |
Hannam & Partners Andrew Chubb Jay Ashfield Nilesh Patel | +44 (0) 20 7907 8500 |
Joint Broker |
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Turner Pope Investments Andy Thacker | +44 (0) 203 657 0050 |
Financial PR (United Kingdom) |
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Tavistock | +44 (0) 207 920 3150 |
Jos Simson Barney Hayward |
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The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014
About AfriTin Mining Limited
Notes to Editors
AfriTin Mining Limited is the first pure tin company listed in London and its vision is to create a portfolio of globally significant, conflict-free, tin-producing assets. The Company's flagship asset is the Uis Tin Mine in Namibia, formerly the world's largest hard-rock opencast tin mine.
AfriTin is managed by an experienced board of directors and management team with a current two-fold strategy: fast-track Uis Tin Mine in Namibia to commercial production as Phase 1, ramping up to 5,000 tonnes of concentrate in a Phase 2 expansion. The Company strives to capitalise on the solid supply/demand fundamentals of tin by developing a critical mass of tin resource inventory, achieving production in the near term and further scaling production by consolidating tin assets in Africa.