AfriTin Mining: A Promising Polymetallic Investment Opportunity

AfriTin Mining is ramping up tin production and leveraging lithium potential at its flagship Uis mine in Namibia. With cash flows online and massive resource growth upside, the company offers exciting polymetallic investment exposure.
- Site Visit to AfriTin: CEO, General Manager, and Plant Manager showcase the facility, emphasizing a new plant construction aimed at increasing production.
- Resource Expansion: Focus on extracting lithium concentrate from waste and capturing other elements such as tantalum, with financial backing from local banks leveraging current cash flows.
- Operational Challenges: Highlighting issues in attracting skilled labor due to remote location, infrastructural needs like housing for employees, and global economic challenges.
- Community Engagement: Strong commitment to local communities by purchasing tin from them and providing bursaries and developmental opportunities for local talent.
- Future Goals: Aim to boost processing from 80 tons per hour to 120 tons by October and explore potential benefits of a multi-metal mining operation, capitalizing on the region's diverse resources.
About AfriTin Mining
AfriTin Mining is a tin and lithium mining company with a flagship asset in Namibia called the Uis mine. The company holds a mining license covering the entire Uis pegmatite belt, which was historically one of the largest hard rock tin mines in the world. AfriTin has already built phase 1 of a new processing plant at Uis, which is currently producing tin concentrate at a rate of 100 tons per hour. The company is now focused on expanding production to 120-130 tons per hour by October 2023. Beyond tin, AfriTin sees significant potential to also produce lithium, tantalum and other metals from Uis in the coming years. The company has a strong and experienced management team leading operations in Namibia.
AfriTin Site Visit with CEO, General Manager and Plant Manager
Ramping Up Tin Production
AfriTin’s phase 1 tin processing plant at Uis is already generating strong cash flows, with the company reporting revenue of over $20 million in the first half of 2022. The plant has capacity to process 80 tons per hour but is currently running above nameplate at 100 tph. This puts the company on track to achieve its short-term goal of 120-130 tph by October following an expansion project focused on the crushing circuit, screening and stockpiling.
CEO Anthony Viljoen highlighted that the consistent ore grades and homogenous mineralization at Uis significantly de-risks the expansion. The company has also secured debt financing from Standard Bank to fund the expansion capital requirements. Once the expanded capacity is online in October, AfriTin expects to generate EBITDA of around $80 million per year at Uis based on tin production of 10,000 tons per annum.
Leveraging Uis’ Lithium Potential
While tin alone makes Uis an attractive mining investment, the asset’s lithium potential is what really excites investors. Historical operators discarded lithium-bearing ore due to lack of demand at the time. However, AfriTin has already proven it can produce a 4% lithium concentrate from Uis ore.
The company is currently conducting additional test work and engineering studies required to build a lithium pilot plant at Uis in 2023. The pilot plant will provide proof of concept for larger-scale lithium production. AfriTin is also evaluating the potential to produce tantalum and is installing all-sorting technology that could increase ore grades by 2-4 times.
Independent director Mike Rawlinson estimates the lithium opportunity could ultimately deliver 50% of revenues from Uis compared to 45% from tin. With huge lithium demand forecasted from the EV battery sector, AfriTin is positioned to benefit substantially as a low-cost producer located near infrastructure.
Massive Resource Growth Potential
Beyond increasing plant capacity, AfriTin also sees potential to significantly grow resources at Uis. The current Uis mining license covers over 200 million tons of pegmatite ore across 13 known deposits. Only 1 of these deposits has been actively mined to date. The company can leverage its existing infrastructure and processing plant to open up the other 12 deposits for minimal capital outlay.
There is also strong prospectivity to discover new deposits in the license area through ongoing exploration drilling. With such a massive resource and huge upside potential from lithium, Uis offers one of the strongest growth stories among junior miners globally. The consistent, homogenous mineralization provides a simple pathway to scaling up production over time.
Conclusion
AfriTin Mining offers investors an exciting opportunity to get exposure to the tin and lithium markets through a world-class asset. With cash flows from phase 1 tin production already coming online, the company is de-risking expansion plans while also progressing lithium. The sheer size of the resource, excellent infrastructure and experienced team point to tremendous upside for early investors as Uis transitions to a multi-commodity producer. While risks exist around execution and metals pricing, the asset quality provides a strong base to build on. For investors eager to tap into battery metals on the cusp of major growth, AfriTin Mining ticks all the boxes.
Analyst's Notes


