REG - AfriTin Mining Ltd - By-product and Metallurgical Process Development

Andrada MiningAnnouncement

18/11/2021 07:00

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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)O    Conversion factor of 2.153
 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                     +44 (0) 20 7907 8500

 Andrew Chubb

 Jay Ashfield

 Nilesh Patel
 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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