ABU Dhabi’s International Resources Holding (IRH) is looking at extending its growing portfolio of mining interests with an indirect stake in Toronto- and Johannesburg-listed tin miner Alphamin, according to a report by Bloomberg News.
The newswire said on Monday Alphamin’s 57% shareholder Denham Capital was considering putting its shares in an investment vehicle in which IRH would participate. Alphamin operates the Bisie tin mine in the Congo. Bisie is being expanded to about 20,000 tons a year of tin, roughly 6% to 7% of world production, said Bloomberg News.
An IRH delegation recently visited the mine in the central African country, said Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter. A deal isn’t imminent and there’s no guarantee the discussions will result in an investment, the people said.
Alphamin, which has a market value of C$1.5bn ($1bn), paid total dividends of $115.5m for 2022 and 2023.
IRH is a unit of International Holding Company, a vast conglomerate controlled by United Arab Emirates’ National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan. IRH recently signed an agreement with South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation aimed at making joint investments in South Africa.
IRH first came to prominence in South Africa after it outbid Sibanye-Stillwater for control of Zambia’s Mopani Copper.
Denham, which has been Alphamin’s largest shareholder for a little over a decade, is investigating a “vehicle to continue the investment in Bisie,” said Rob Still, a partner at the firm. That’s “solicited considerable interest from a number of parties” and Denham is in discussions with them, he told the newswire.
Still declined to identify the companies. “No definitive arrangements have been made with any third party at this juncture,” he said.
Annual demand for tin is forecast to increase by more than a fifth to 450,000 tons by 2035, said Bloomberg News citing Project Blue, a Cape Town-based provider of intelligence on critical minerals. The metal, used in solder for electronics and in renewable energy technologies, has climbed 14% this year to about $29,000 a ton.
