By-Product Development & Exploration Programme

6 September 2021

AfriTin Mining Limited

 ("AfriTin" or the "Company")

By-Product Development and Exploration Drilling Programme

AfriTin Mining Limited (AIM: ATM), an African tin mining company with its flagship asset, the Uis Tin Mine ("Uis") in Namibia, is pleased to provide an update on its lithium and tantalum by-product development programme and announce a focused geological exploration drilling programme (Figure 1 and 2).  

Highlights:

§ Preliminary results from lithium beneficiation test work indicate substantial upgrade potential;

§ Tantalum by-product development progressing to pilot processing design phase; and

§ Initiation of an 8,000 metre lithium and tantalum exploration drilling programme over the next 12 months.

Link to Figures: https://bit.ly/3kPWibM

Anthony Viljoen (CEO) commented:

"AfriTin has displayed its ability to bring mineral deposits into production by declaring an ore reserve for tin and bringing the Phase 1 pilot plant into operational profitability at our flagship Uis Mine. The metallurgical test work and exploration programmes being announced today have been designed to increase the confidence levels of lithium and tantalum by-product potential and move towards the realisation of additional revenue streams. We are excited about the opportunity to diversify and consolidate our tech-metal exposure."

As communicated in the announcement dated 16 September 2019, the Company announced a JORC (2012)-compliant measured, indicated and inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) at Uis totalling 71.54 million tonnes of ore containing 95,539 tonnes of tin (Sn) metal at a grade of 0.134% Sn. In addition, the MRE included tantalum (Ta) and lithium oxide (Li₂O) as presented in Table 1.

Table 1: AfriTin Mining inferred resource estimate (JORC-2012) for ancillary metals within the V1 and V2 pegmatites at Uis Tin Mine.

Source: CSA Global

Note: Tabulated data have been rounded off. Contained metal for lithium refers to lithium oxide (Li₂O)

* AfriTin has an attributable ownership of 85% in Uis with the remaining 15% owned by The Small Miners of Uis (SMU)

The presence of significant tantalum and lithium oxide mineralisation within the V1/V2 ore body creates an opportunity for the development of additional revenue streams to the Company's tin concentrate product. Therefore, the Company is advancing a metallurgical test work programme aimed at developing the process flow to efficiently produce both tantalum and lithium oxide by-products.

Lithium oxide at Uis occurs primarily as the mineral petalite in the ore which is treated by the current processing facility. The Company aims to produce a low iron petalite concentrate containing a minimum of 4.0% Li₂O and at maximum of 0.05% Fe₂O₃. It is anticipated that the process flow design of a petalite concentration circuit will involve a combination of density separation, flotation and magnetic separation methods. The current phase of the lithium oxide test work programme will investigate density separation methods to concentrate petalite. Bulk samples were acquired from the active mining area and transported to test work facilities in South Africa. Heavy Liquid Separation (HLS) test work and pilot Dense Medium Separation (DMS) test work is being conducted concurrently. Preliminary results from HLS tests indicate an upgrade factor for lithium oxide of four to five times, which is in line with the Company's projections for DMS pre-concentration. HLS and DMS test work will be followed by characterisation of concentrate samples, which will inform the second phase of test work.

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.

Tantalum test work completed to date includes a range of technologies aimed at exploiting the differences in magnetic susceptibility of the tantalum and tin bearing minerals. The results demonstrate the potential to produce a saleable tantalum concentrate, particularly in the coarser fraction (+1 mm). While optimisation test work continues, the Company will proceed with the process flow design for a pilot tantalum concentrate production facility at Uis, with implementation planned for Q4 of 2021.

In tandem to the metallurgical test work and process development, AfriTin has commenced a larger exploration focus over its licence areas (Figure 1). The immediate priority is an infill exploration drilling programme over the V1/V2 ore body aimed at increasing the geological confidence of the existing MRE for tantalum and lithium oxide (Figure 2). The programme aims to improve the classification of these minerals from inferred to indicated and measured JORC-compliant categories, for that portion of the ore body extending to a depth of approximately 150 metres. This will provide increased confidence in mineral concentration and production estimation modelling, and may lead to the existing Ore Reserve Estimate for tin to be updated for tantalum and lithium oxide. The programme comprises approximately 8,000 metres of exploration drilling and is expected to run for a period of 12 months from commencement of drilling.

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.