Eoin O’Driscoll

ALPHAMIN was hit last year by an event everybody had been expecting from when it started building the Bisie mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): getting caught up in one of the nation’s recurring military bust-ups. It happened in March as the Rwanda-backed M23 group extended its battles with the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) in North Kivu province. Up until that point the remote location of the mine – which produces some 6% of the world’s tin – was enough to protect it.

Founding CEO Boris Kamstra once claimed he felt safer at the mine in North Kivu than he did in crime-ridden Johannesburg. The mine was forced to shut, which saw Alphamin’s share collapse 50% before swiftly recovering when operations restarted. That could happen again despite the DRC and Rwanda committing to peace in a meeting brokered by US President Donald Trump in early December. In fact, less than a week after the meeting the M23 rebels were on the offensive again. Eoin O’Driscoll, who at the time of writing was due to replace Alphamin’s CEO of six years Maritz Smith in March, has warned shareholders about increased “security events” near the mine, adding that the “operating risk profile remains elevated”. Talk about high risk, high reward.

Despite this, O’Driscoll runs a mine that continues to make money hand-over-fist while management is looking to increase the resource base of the existing operations while searching for a new tin deposit on its huge tenement. It’s this profitability – and a tin price currently surging – as well as sound outlook for expansion that attracted Abu Dhabi’s International Resources Holding. Last year it bought 56% of Alphamin from Tremont Master Holdings.