AFRITIN, the UK-listed miner and development firm, raised £13m in an accelerated book-build with the proceeds earmarked for first phase expansion of its Uis tin mine in Namibia.
The expansion aims to increase nameplate production by 67% from 60 tons of tin concentrate to 100 tons of tin concentrate per month. Funds would also be ploughed in to metallurgical tests of potential tantalum and lithium oxide by-products.
“The tin market continues to perform well, and we look forward to the added potential of these two by-products which are becoming increasingly essential components in the new technologies industry,” said Anthony Viljoen, CEO of AfriTin in an announcement.
Some 216.7 million shares were placed at a price of six pence per share representing a 12.5% discount to the closing price on May 11.
Said Viljoen: “The proceeds also allow us to further investigate the exciting, significant lithium and tantalum by-product potential we have across our extensive resource base, and further exploration on our regional assets”.
AfriTin said earlier this month that following a feasibility study it would spend $5.7m (£4m) on the first phase expansion.
The expanded mine would have real cash costs of $16,200 per ton of contained tin metal. Assuming a long-term average market price of $20,000/t for tin, the study estimated a 2.4 year payback and a net present value of $12.1m.
The tin price broke through $23,000/t in the first quarter representing its highest price since 2014.
In February, AfriTin said it had renewed an offtake agreement to supply tin to Thailand Smelting and Refining Corporation (Thaisarco), and had signed an offtake deal for tantalum with a new customer, AfriMet.
