TIDMATM
RNS Number : 7468S
AfriTin Mining Ltd
18 November 2021
18 November 2021
AfriTin Mining Limited
("AfriTin" or the "Company")
By-product and Metallurgical Process Development Programme
AfriTin Mining Limited (AIM: ATM), an African tech-metals mining
company with a portfolio of mining and exploration assets in
Namibia in tin, lithium and tantalum, with its flagship asset, the
Uis Tin Mine ("Uis") in Namibia, is pleased to provide an update on
its by-product and metallurgical process development programme.
Highlights
-- Density-based lithium beneficiation test work has achieved
petalite concentrate grades in excess of 4% Li(2) O and within
contaminant specifications for a typical saleable technical grade
petalite product;
-- The Company will proceed with the design and procurement of
pilot lithium beneficiation facility;
-- Test work successful in producing a high-grade, saleable
specification tantalum concentrate (>24% Ta(2) O(5) ); and
-- The Company to proceed with the implementation of tantalum concentrating circuit.
Anthony Viljoen (CEO) Commented:
"The metallurgical test work results confirm the production
potential of separate saleable lithium and tantalum concentrates.
Implementation of these by-product streams could substantially
transform the overall economics and unit cost of production for the
current Phase 1 facility. More importantly, it provides an
outstanding platform for the future large-scale Phase 2 facility
with a planned production capacity of more than 8 times the current
facility. By implementing the pilot phase development of these
separate elements, the Company aims to take advantage of the
burgeoning technology metals market by fast tracking the by-product
streams into production.
We are encouraged by the rapid progress on our metallurgical
test work programme in support of our goal of becoming a major
player in the tech-metal mining sector."
The Company has embarked on an aggressive strategy to maximise
returns by producing by-products and maximising processing
throughput. The programmes to develop separate tantalum and lithium
concentrate by-products are advancing to the piloting phase.
Lithium By-product Development:
Lithium oxide at Uis occurs primarily as the mineral petalite in
the ore which is treated by the current processing facility. The
occurrence of petalite is consistent throughout the mineral
resource. The Company aims to produce a premium technical grade
petalite concentrate. Although petalite contains comparatively less
lithium than the more common spodumene (petalite has a theoretical
limit of 4.9% Li(2) O), the low contaminant levels of technical
grade petalite makes it suitable for the glass and ceramics market,
therefore attracting a premium to the typical chemical grade
spodumene concentrate. A technical grade petalite concentrate
typically contains a minimum of 4.0% Li(2) O, a maximum of 0.05%
Fe(2) O(3) and alkali metal compounds (Na(2) O + K(2) O) of less
than 1.0%. The Company is also investigating possible offtake
routes in the battery materials market.
Test work to date focussed on processing several samples from
the current plant feed and discard streams to produce petalite
concentrates. Dense Medium Separation (DMS) test work on laboratory
scale as well as piloting scale has achieved an upgrade in Li(2) O
of 4 times and higher, with several samples producing grades above
4.0% Li(2) O and contaminant levels within technical grade
specifications. The test work has been expanded to include milling
and flotation as a method of further upgrade and maximising
recovery of Li(2) O.
The Company will proceed with the design and procurement for a
pilot petalite concentration plant. The process flow design of a
petalite concentration circuit is planned as a combination of
density separation, flotation and magnetic separation methods. The
circuit will be fed with coarse discard material from the first
stage of DMS in the current processing plant on a batch basis. The
facility will have a processing capacity of 20 tonnes per hour and
is intended as a pilot for an integrated full-scale petalite
concentrate circuit (120 tonnes per hour).
The pilot plant is expected to cost GBP2.2 million, consisting
of CAPEX and operating costs over the course of the pilot campaign.
The plant will be funded from existing cash reserves. The Company
plans to operate the plant for an initial period of 6 months,
generating bulk product sales for the purpose of establishing a
long-term offtake agreement. Results from this pilot will inform a
bankable feasibility study for the integrated full-scale circuit.
AfriTin is engaging with possible EPCM partners for the
implementation of the pilot plant by Q2 of 2022, to be followed by
the implementation of the full-scale petalite concentrate
circuit.
Tantalum By-Product Development:
Tantalum at Uis occurs primarily within Columbite Group Minerals
(CGM) which have a similar density to the tin bearing mineral
cassiterite and is currently recovered as part of the tin
concentrate. At present, the Company does not receive a credit for
the contained tantalum within the tin concentrate. Therefore, the
aim is to separate the tantalum bearing minerals from the tin
concentrate and create a by-product at a typical saleable grade of
20% Ta(2) O(5) .
Magnetic separation is a proven technology for the separation of
Ta-bearing CGM from non-magnetic minerals such as Cassiterite.
Following the initial focus on wet magnetic separation techniques,
recent work investigated dry magnetic separation techniques.
Production of concentrates containing in excess of 24% Ta(2) O(5)
was achieved from separate samples submitted to two independent
service providers using similar processing strategies and
equipment.
Based on the above results, the Company will proceed with the
implementation of a pilot beneficiation circuit to further process
the currently produced tin concentrate employing dry screening and
a high intensity dry electromagnetic separation to produce a
separate tantalum concentrate. The circuit has an estimated capital
cost of GBP0.3 million and will be funded from existing cash
reserves. Construction of the circuit will be managed by AfriTin's
in-house engineering team.
The pilot tantalum separation circuit will treat the entire
stream of currently produced tin concentrate. The Company expects
to progress seamlessly from the pilot phase to the final circuit
configuration through process optimisation over a period of 6
months.
Glossary of abbreviations
Cassiterite Tin bearing mineral
DMS Dense Medium Separation
CGM Columbite Group Minerals, which is tantalum bearing
Li Elemental symbol for Lithium
Li(2) O Lithium oxide
Li -> Li(2) Conversion factor of 2.153
O
Petalite Low iron lithium bearing silicate
NIR Near Infrared
QA/QC Quality Assurance Quality Control
Sn Elemental symbol for Tin
Ta Elemental symbol for Tantalum
AfriTin Mining Limited +27 (11) 268 6555
Anthony Viljoen, CEO
Nominated Adviser +44 (0) 20 7220 1666
WH Ireland Limited
Katy Mitchell
Corporate Advisor and Joint Broker
H&P Advisory Limited
Andrew Chubb
Jay Ashfield
Nilesh Patel +44 (0) 20 7907 8500
Tavistock Financial PR (United
Kingdom) +44 (0) 20 7920 3150
Jos Simson
Nick Elwes
Oliver Lamb
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 open cast tin mine.
AfriTin is managed by an experienced board of directors and
management team with a current strategy to ramp-up production at
the Uis Tin Mine in Namibia to 10,000 tonnes of concentrate in a
Phase 2 expansion, having reached Phase 1 commercial production in
2020. 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.
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