UK Edition
Tin miner brings Namibia project to Aim
A mining company is to list on London’s junior market in a bid to revive what was once the largest opencast tin mine in the world.
AfriTin will de-merge from fellow Aim-listed miner Bushveld Minerals and float around 50pc of its shares tomorrow (Monday). It is looking to raise between £2m and £6m to put the Uis mine in Namibia, southern Africa back into production.
Anthony Viljoen, chief executive, said rising tin prices and a shortage of global supply made it the right time to list the Uis project. The deposit was discovered in 1911, but ceased production in the 1990s after tin prices collapsed.
“The next phase of commodity supercycle is going to focus toward specialty metals,” Mr Viljoen said. “Before tin prices crashed in the 1980s, there was a profusion of tin companies listed in London; we want to rejuvenate that.”
More than half the world’s tin supply is used in solder for electronics. It has risen in price by around a third since the start of 2016, and AfriTin hopes it can ride the wave of interest in battery technology for electric vehicles, pointing out tin can be used in lithium ion batteries. It wants to produce 5,000 tonnes of tin concentrate in the next five years.
AfriTin, which counts a former Randgold Resources CFO on its board, is meeting investors in London to coincide with LME Week, an annual gathering of metal traders, which starts on October 30.
Mr Viljoen said the resources market was seeing “green shoots” after a two-year downturn in commodity prices made life difficult for junior miners. “Some of the big guys that exited small mining stocks a few years ago are sniffing around,” he said. “It’s been a while since big institutions have taken a look into this space.”
AfriTin could soon be joined by another tin producer on Aim. Strongbow Exploration, which is looking to revive the historic South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall, is also mulling a UK listing before the end of the year.