Andrada Mining has increased the total resource at its Uis mine by 77%, after completing an additional mineral resource estimate (MRE). With a combined tin content of 170,000 tonnes, this makes the company the owner of “one of the largest tin assets globally”.
The company, formerly AfriTin Mining, released a maiden MRE late in 2019 for the V1/V2 pegmatite – just one of the twelve historically mined pegmatites in the licence area. A combination of historical and confirmatory drill holes was used to complete the MRE, containing a total of almost 100,000 tonnes tin. Mining of this pegmatite started soon after, and the company has been steadily increasing production since.
Meanwhile, Andrada Mining have looked to the other historically mined pegmatites in the area, termed the Proximal Pegmatites (PP), to further increase the assets mineral resource. These pegmatites are all within a 3km radius from the existing processing plant, and are grouped into three clusters: K, P, and V.
Using drill holes from a past exploration drilling programme, an inferred MRE has been completed. Exploration consultancy, Minxcon (Pty) Ltd, were appointed to undertake the compilation of a tin block model for the PP, using 809 historic drill holes. The MRE is comprised of over 57M tonnes of ore at an average grade of 0.131%, containing just under 75,000 tonnes in the inferred category. Historical drilling also indicates the pegmatites remain open at depth.
As stated in their press release, the company is embarking on a confirmatory drilling programme to improve the tin resource classification and to evaluate lithium and tantalum potential of the Proximal Pegmatites.
Our view: A further increase to the Uis mine Resource is an important step for Andrada Mining. They plan to scale up production to roughly 9,000 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate per year, through a Phase 2 Expansion Project in the coming years. Continuing to expand the resource in tandem will potentially improve the longevity of the scaled-up operations.
Andrada Mining is a member of ITA’s Explorers and Developers Group.
