AFRITIN, the UK-listed tin miner, said it had reached first stage full production at its Uis pilot plant in Namibia.
The operation produced 63.9 tons of tin concentrate, which contained 41.6 tons of tin metal, in November – a 32% month-on-month improvement in concentrate production, and some 107% of its target for the first stage. November’s output takes year-to-date concentrate production to 301 tons.
Historically, the Uis mine (previously operated by South African steel producer, Iscor) produced about 1,500 tons of tin concentrate annually.
Despite Covid-19 related restrictions, shipping of tin concentrate through the port of Walvis Bay to the off-take partner in Thailand “continues unabated”, the company said. AfriTin will now focus on maintaining steady state production, while exploring opportunities for further optimisation and expansion of the operation.
“This is a defining milestone that has been achieved for the company,” said Anthony Viljoen, CEO of AfriTin in a statement.
“This success speaks volumes for the high quality nature of the asset and the calibre of our management team, whom I would like to sincerely congratulate given the macro challenges faced by the global pandemic.”
In August 2020, AfriTin raised additional equity through a placing and subscription of £3.05m shares at a price of 2.1p/share through existing shareholders and “… prominent new institutional investors”, the firm said.
“Their participation demonstrates on-going confidence in our team’s ability to deliver our stated strategy and growth plans,” said Viljoen at the time.
