REG - AfriTin Mining Ltd - Regional Exploration Update

Andrada MiningAnnouncement

24/11/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 4250H  AfriTin Mining Ltd  24 November 2022

24 November 2022

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations
(EU) No. 596/2014 (MAR) as in force in the United Kingdom pursuant to the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this
announcement via Regulatory Information Service (RIS), this inside information
is now considered to be in the public domain.

AfriTin Mining Limited

("AfriTin" or the "Company")

Regional Exploration Update - Lithium, Tin and Tantalum

Significant Mineralisation Potential at Surface, 35 km from Flagship Uis Mine

AfriTin Mining Limited (AIM: ATM), an African technology metals mining company
with a portfolio of mining and exploration assets in Namibia, is pleased to
provide an update on the exploration activities undertaken over its mining
licence ML133, located approximately 35 km south-east of the Company's Uis
Mine.

The exploration programme has been conducted over a 12-month period commencing
in Q4 2021, and included aerial surveys, regional and high-resolution
geological mapping, and surface chip sampling. The programme targeted
outcropping pegmatites, many of which were found to contain lithium, tin, and
tantalum.

Highlights:

 

·      More than 100 pegmatites were outlined by detailed geological
mapping over the licence areas of approximately 3,200 hectares;

·      Sampling consisted of 79 pegmatite chip sample profiles over 64
selected pegmatites;

·      Chip sample results, sampled across the width of selected
pegmatites on a 1m interval, included:

o  13 m at 1.93% Li(2)O, 0.10% Sn, and 36 ppm Ta from sample line T78;

o  24 m at 1.65% Li(2)O, 0.15% Sn, and 52 ppm Ta from sample line T72;

o  20 m at 0.97 % Li(2)O, 0.12% Sn, and 172 ppm Ta from sample line T36;

o  14 m at 1.33% Li(2)O, 0.17% Sn, and 118 ppm Ta from sample line T71;

o  11 m at 0.93% Li(2)O, 0.17% Sn, and 149 ppm Ta from sample line T24;

o  4 m at 2.44% Li(2)O, 0.07% Sn, and 43 ppm Ta for sample line T76;

·      The weighted average of the 20 highest lithium grade sample lines
combined provides 200 m at 1.25% Li(2)O (composite of Table 1); and

·      The Company intends to proceed with the next phase of
exploration, including scout drilling, and initial metallurgical test work.

Anthony Viljoen (CEO) commented:
"We are especially excited about these initial exploration results. It confirms our belief that the pegmatites of the ML133 licence could contain significant lithium, tin and tantalum mineralisation. We intend to advance the next stage of our work programme over this area, including exploration drilling and initial metallurgical test work.
Proximity of the test area to the Uis Mine, which is our operating facility with comparable types of mineralisation, presents potential development synergies.
AfriTin's portfolio of operating and exploration assets in Namibia underpins our goal of becoming a major producer of technology metals. We believe the prospectivity of our tenements justify accelerating the exploration and development programmes aimed at realising near-term value for our stakeholders."
Locality

AfriTin's mineral licence ML133 is located approximately 35 km south-east of
the Uis Mine (Figure 1). It can be accessed by road from the Uis Mine, and is
also connected to the port of Walvis Bay to the south-west. It is the site of
the historical Tin Tan Mine which produced tin and tantalum during the late
1980's.

Figure 1: AfriTin's Uis Mine and mineral licence locality map showing the
position of ML133

Exploration Programme

Following an extensive desktop study, an exploration programme was launched
over ML133, which included remote sensing to produce regional geological maps
using high-resolution (5cm) imagery over the priority target area, followed by
detailed on-site mapping of selected areas. Chip samples were taken over
selected pegmatites and analysed for lithium, tin, and tantalum. The sample
profiles were orientated perpendicular to strike, with each sample being
composited over the length of one meter. The pegmatites were chipped with the
utilisation of a rock breaker, and the liberated material was then collected
in a sample bag until 15-25 kg of material had been obtained. The samples were
then processed and analysed for their trace element content by ICP-MS methods
at an independent ALS laboratory.

This programme identified numerous pegmatites with notable indications of
lithium, tin and tantalum mineralisation. The values in Table 1 represent the
average grade over the length of the entire sample line. The weighted average
of the sample lines in Table 1 combined (composite of the values) provides 200
m at 1.25% Li2O.

Table 1: Selected results from the chip sampling programme on mining license
ML133. The entire dataset is in Appendix A.

 Sample Line  Pegmatite  Length (m)  Li(2)O (%)  Sn (%)  Ta (ppm)
 T24          P51        11          0.93        0.17    149
 T27          P45        22          0.78        0.18    53
 T29          P45        2           2.89        0.06    24
 T31          P43        13          1.05        0.14    65
 T36          P63        20          0.97        0.12    172
 T39          P68        5           1.20        0.16    60
 T62          P246       9           1.56        0.09    48
 T68          P154       6           1.37        0.10    163
 T70          P155       10          1.20        0.14    54
 T71          P158       14          1.33        0.17    118
 T72          P163       24          1.65        0.15    52
 T73          P163       15          1.21        0.13    53
 T74          P163       3           0.86        0.07    136
 T75          P186       3           1.14        0.18    85
 T76          P188       4           2.44        0.07    43
 T77          P193       14          1.24        0.12    38
 T78          P193       13          1.93        0.10    36
 T79          P197       6           0.81        0.08    111
 T83          P229       6           0.85        0.18    119

 

The exploration programme extracted 704 samples, each representing a one-meter
interval along the surface and obtained from the 79 sample lines completed
during this programme. The detailed mapping and sampling programme was
designed to evaluate the variability of the pegmatite occurrences within the
area. The results show that tin, lithium, and tantalum mineralisation occur
together in some areas, but separately in others.

The ore minerals for tin and tantalum within the project area appear to be
cassiterite and columbite-group minerals respectively. A follow-up site visit
was undertaken to those sample areas with enhanced lithium grades. Grab
samples taken during this visit indicate that the main lithium bearing mineral
is petalite, with lesser occurences of spodumene and lepidolite.

Future Work

Continued geological mapping and sampling is planned for the mineralisation
trends within the license area, and an initial focus will be the mapped area
north of the historical Tin Tan mine since this zone appears to be
preferentially enriched in lithium. These mineralised pegmatites generally
strike in a northeast-southwest direction with a near vertical dip. In
addition, a scout exploration drilling programme is planned, with the aim to
characterise the nature of these intrusions at depth.

In addition, the Company has initiated metallurgical test work on selected
mineralised bulk samples from historical mining rock dumps to determine the
beneficiation characteristics of the material. The initial test work is
designed as pilot scale dense medium separation tests.

The results of the exploration programme and test work will inform the
Company's development strategy for ML133.

Competent Person

The technical data in this announcement has been reviewed by Laurence Robb, a
Non-Executive Director of AfriTin. Laurence Robb (BScHons, MSc, PhD, FGS,
FGSSA, FRSSA) has more than 40 years of industry-related mineral project
development experience. He is registered as a Professional Natural Scientist
with The South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions, and
Chartered Geologist with the Geological Society of London. He was Professor of
Economic Geology and Director of the Economic Geology Research Institute in
the University of the Witwatersrand's School of Geosciences. He is currently
based at Oxford University as a Visiting Professor. He has reviewed the
technical disclosures in this release and consents to the release of the
information contained herein.

Glossary of abbreviations
 ICP-MS         Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (Super Trace DL Na2O2)
 km             Kilometre
 Li             Symbol for Lithium
 Li → Li(2)O    Metal to metal-oxide conversion factor of 2.153
 Li(2)O         Lithium oxide
 m              Metre
 PPM            Parts Per Million
 Sn             Symbol for Tin
 Ta             Symbol for Tantalum

Glossary of Technical Terms
 Dense Medium Separation  An ore beneficiation method in which minerals of relatively high or low
                          specific gravity are separated from gangue using a hydrocyclone and a dense
                          medium.
 Pegmatite                An igneous rock typically of granitic composition, which is distinguished from
                          other igneous rocks by the extremely coarse and systematically variable size
                          of its crystals, or by an abundance of crystals with skeletal, graphic, or
                          other strongly directional growth habits, or by a prominent spatial zonation
                          of mineral assemblages, including monomineralic zones

 

 

 

 AfriTin Mining Limited                   +27 (11) 268 6555
 Anthony Viljoen, CEO
 Nominated Adviser                        +44 (0) 207 220 1666
 WH Ireland Limited

 Katy Mitchell

 Andrew de Andrade
 Corporate Advisor and Joint Broker
 H&P Advisory Limited                     +44 (0) 20 7907 8500

 Andrew Chubb

 Jay Ashfield

 Nilesh Patel
 Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited           +44 (0) 20 7710 7600

 Ashton Clanfield

 Callum Stewart

 Varun Talwar
 Tavistock Financial PR (United Kingdom)  +44 (0) 207 920 3150
 Emily Moss

 Catherine Drummond

 Adam Baynes

 

 

About AfriTin Mining Limited

Notes to Editors

AfriTin Mining Limited is a London-listed technology metals mining company
with a vision to create a portfolio of globally significant, conflict-free,
producing and exploration 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 Mine in Namibia to
more than 10,000 tonnes of tin concentrate and 350,000 tonnes of lithium
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 and lithium by developing a critical mass of
resource inventory, achieving production in the near term and further scaling
production by consolidating assets in Africa.

 

Appendix A: Results for all the sampling lines, the results represent the
average grade of each element over the sampled length of the line.

 Sample Line  Pegmatite    Length (m)  Li(2)O (%)  Sn (%)  Ta (ppm)
 T01          P5           5           0.35        0.05    26
 T02          P21          24          0.02        0.03    14
 T03          P248         1           0.01        0.03    68
 T04          P14          38          0.04        0.03    24
 T05          P16          14          0.04        0.02    16
 T06          P13          2           0.01        0.07    153
 T07          Grab Sample  1           0.08        0.54    486
 T08          P1           2           0.03        0.08    72
 T09          P2           20          0.07        0.23    72
 T10          P24          4           0.03        0.03    39
 T11          P25          5           0.06        0.12    42
 T12          P28          2           0.05        0.04    57
 T13          P27          5           0.11        0.05    51
 T14          P32          4           0.22        0.26    180
 T15          P29          2           0.09        0.04    32
 T16          P30          12          0.28        0.16    56
 T17          P33          2           0.09        0.18    77
 T18          P33          2           0.24        0.28    108
 T19          P39          4           0.64        0.24    99
 T20          P43          11          0.53        0.16    145
 T21          P38          1           0.01        0.21    64
 T22          P60          5           0.13        0.20    93
 T23          P51          5           0.66        0.10    157
 T24          P51          11          0.93        0.17    149
 T25          P54          4           0.48        0.11    119
 T26          P48          4           0.35        0.27    82
 T27          P45          22          0.78        0.18    53
 T28          P47          5           0.33        0.15    84
 T29          P45          2           2.89        0.06    24
 T30          P50          5           0.32        0.04    125
 T31          P43          13          1.05        0.14    65
 T32          P56          3           0.17        0.48    98
 T33          P57          1           0.11        0.24    121
 T34          P43          6           0.09        0.08    220
 T35          P57          2           0.34        0.10    23
 T36          P63          20          0.97        0.12    172
 T37          P72          3           0.03        0.02    16
 T38          P64          18          0.27        0.04    57
 T39          P68          5           1.20        0.16    60
 T40          P72          1           0.03        0.02    21
 T41          P77          11          0.04        0.03    31
 T42          P88          14          0.02        0.15    66
 Trench       Pegmatite    Length (m)  Li(2)O (%)  Sn (%)  Ta (ppm)
 T43          P86          1           0.05        0.02    13
 T44          P86          1           0.05        0.01    15
 T45          P88          9           0.06        0.05    32
 T46          P104         3           0.01        0.15    60
 T47          P111         12          0.08        0.05    23
 T48          P100         9           0.03        0.04    20
 T49          P93          7           0.01        0.35    72
 T50          P98          5           0.03        0.09    111
 T51          P102         13          0.05        0.06    22
 T52          P114         23          0.06        0.01    27
 T53          P88          20          0.02        0.01    9
 T54          P88          32          0.04        0.01    19
 T55          P88          22          0.02        0.02    24
 T56          P88          4           0.02        0.01    30
 T57          P88          3           0.02        0.01    14
 T58          P88          30          0.02        0.02    20
 T59          P119         1           0.01        0.01    9
 T60          P113         15          0.04        0.02    13
 T61          P126         3           0.40        0.11    81
 T62          P246         9           1.56        0.09    48
 T63          P138         2           0.05        0.29    93
 T64          P136         2           0.65        0.10    45
 T65          P148         5           0.05        0.20    76
 T66          P151         10          0.05        0.02    13
 T67          P152         8           0.06        0.01    15
 T68          P154         6           1.37        0.10    163
 T69          P173         3           0.02        0.01    12
 T70          P155         10          1.20        0.14    54
 T71          P158         14          1.33        0.17    118
 T72          P163         24          1.65        0.15    52
 T73          P163         15          1.21        0.13    53
 T74          P163         3           0.86        0.07    136
 T75          P186         3           1.14        0.18    85
 T76          P188         4           2.44        0.07    43
 T77          P193         14          1.24        0.12    38
 T78          P193         13          1.93        0.10    36
 T79          P197         6           0.81        0.08    111
 T80          P198         5           0.63        0.18    80
 T81          P219         6           0.01        0.01    12
 T82          P223         4           0.13        0.37    145
 T83          P229         6           0.85        0.18    119
 T84          P223         1           0.67        0.35    106

 

 

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