Tantalum & Lithium By-Product Test Work Programme

12 April 2021

AfriTin Mining Limited

("AfriTin" or the "Company")

Tantalum and Lithium By-Product Test Work 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 metallurgical test work programme for potential by-products to its current tin concentrate product.

Highlights:

▪    The Uis Tin Mine JORC(2012)-compliant mineral resource estimate includes ancillary metals with an inventory of 6,091 tonnes of contained tantalum (Ta) and 450,265 tonnes of contained lithium oxide (Li₂O), grading at 85ppm Ta and 0.63% Li₂O respectively.

▪    Major Li₂O intersections include 86.51m grading at 1.22% Li₂O (drill hole V1V2017) and 109.32m with an average grade of 0.97% (drill hole V1V2010).

▪    The Company is advancing a metallurgical test work programme to investigate the by-product potential of the ancillary metals. Test work for a Ta concentrate is at an advanced stage; Li₂O concentrate test work is progressing to a second stage.

Anthony Viljoen, CEO of AfriTin Mining Limited commented:

"Following the achievement of nameplate tin concentrate production in November 2020, the Uis Tin Mine has exceeded production forecasts. This provides the ideal platform for our metallurgical test work programme to investigate the potential of two major by-products, namely lithium oxide and tantalum. Successful implementation of by-product streams may significantly increase our profit margin and allow us to realise the goal of positioning the company in the lowest quartile of the world tin producer cost curve."

As set out in the announcement dated 16 September 2019, Uis has a JORC(2012)-compliant measured, indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate totalling 71.54 million tonnes of ore containing 95,539 tonnes of tin (Sn) metal at a grade of 0.134% tin. In addition, the mineral resource estimate includes Tantalum (Ta) and Lithium Oxide (Li-₂O) as presented in Table 1.

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

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 creates an opportunity for the development of additional revenue streams. Therefore, the Company is advancing a metallurgical test work programme aimed at developing the process flow to efficiently  produce  Tantalum and Lithium Oxide by-products.

Tantalum metallurgical investigations

Tantalum at Uis occurs in the form of the columbite group minerals (CGM) which have a similar density to the Tin-bearing mineral, cassiterite, and it is currently being recovered as part of the Tin concentrate. At present, the Company does not receive credits for the Tantalum present within the Tin concentrate. Therefore, the aim is to extract the Tantalum bearing minerals from the Tin concentrate into a separate saleable by-product.

Metallurgical test work for the production of a separate Tantalum concentrate is at an advanced stage. Previous test work focussed entirely on the differences in magnetic susceptibility between CGM and cassiterite, since pure cassiterite is non-magnetic whereas CGM are weakly magnetic. However, this test work found that a portion of the cassiterite had a magnetic response similar to the CGM. Further investigation found that inclusions, trace elements and surface effects are the probable cause of this overlapping magnetic response. Preliminary test work focused on roasting and leaching the Company's concentrate to suppress the magnetic response of  cassiterite and this process has delivered encouraging results. Further investigation and process flow development aims to optimise a combination of leaching and roasting techniques to improve the efficiency of magnetic separation and provide a separate high value CGM by-product.

Lithium Metallurgical investigations 

The primary Lithium Oxide-bearing mineral present in the orebody at Uis has previously been identified through XRD analysis and thin section investigation as petalite. The 2019 exploration drilling campaign, which resulted in the mineral resource estimate of Table 1, yielded anomalous Lithium Oxide intersections that included 86.51m grading at 1.22% Li-₂O (drill hole V1V2017) and 109.32m grading at 0.97% Li-₂O (drill hole V1V2010) (see announcement dated 26 June 2019).

Test work for the production of a petalite concentrate by-product has been initiated. Preliminary heavy liquid separation (HLS) tests, utilising drill core samples, provided positive indications that a saleable petalite concentrate can be produced. The petalite is naturally low in deleterious compounds, in particular  iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) and potassium oxide (K₂O), and may be suitable feedstock for the production of technical grade lithium concentrate for the glass and ceramics industries. The Company will also investigate the suitability of its petalite concentrate for the production of battery-grade lithium products in this work programme.

Petalite is the lowest density mineral present within the ore mined at Uis, whereas, Tin and Tantalum-bearing minerals represent more dense fractions. Investigations will focus on incorporating technologies and methods currently employed at the processing plant, including dense medium separation (DMS) and magnetic separation. The petalite characterisation will incorporate HLS of bulk samples taken from run-of-mine feed, followed by concentrate cleaning through magnetic separation, and ultimately pilot-scale processing runs.

Ore processing metallurgical investigations

An investigation into the pre-concentration potential of Tin, Tantalum, and Lithium Oxide-bearing minerals using sensor-based ore sorting has commenced. This process involves the use of X-ray, or hyperspectral imaging technologies, to characterise ore particles and manually or pneumatically sort them. The methodology is suitable for ore streams of a relatively high top size (typically 20 to 80 mm) and has the potential to allow mineral concentration or waste rejection early in the process, thereby increasing downstream processing capacity and reducing processing costs. Initial test work will investigate the potential applicability of various X-ray imaging methods and sensors at Uis. Furthermore, successful discrimination of minerals may be followed by bulk material tests.

Further updates will be provided in due course.

Competent Person Statement:

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, Chartered Geologist with the Geological Society of London, and European Geologist with the European Federation of Geologists. 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, and holds additional distinguished visiting professorships at the University of Johannesburg and the University of Witwatersrand. He consults widely throughout Africa and holds various other corporate directorships. He has reviewed the technical disclosures in this release and consents to the release of the information contained herein.

Glossary of abbreviations

Glossary of Technical Terms

For further information, please visit www.afritinmining.com or contact:

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014

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 opencast tin mine.

AfriTin is managed by an experienced board of directors and management team with a current two-fold strategy: fast-track Uis Tin Mine in Namibia to commercial production as Phase 1, and ramp up to 5,000 tonnes of concentrate per annum in a Phase 2 expansion. 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.