Mining in focus
for refined tin is expected to increase with between 1 % and 2 %. Another factor to watch this year is Shanghai warehouse stocks , which are expected to drop by the second half of the year .
On the upside , output at various tin mines is expected to increase this year , most notably at Indonesia ’ s PT Timah , Peru ’ s Minsur , and Bolivia ’ s Empresa Metalúrgica Vinto tin projects . Increasing tin ore imports figures to China also suggest an impending pick-up in production from local smelters .
South Africa
South Africa ’ s last two tin mines , Rooiberg and Zaaiplaats , closed in the 1990s because of age and low tin prices . The tin in the Bushveld Igneous Complex accumulated in trap sites in the upper part of the granites , in pipe-like ore bodies , in overlying vein-like Rooiberg deposits , and also in breccia-like deposits .
Zaaiplaats has generated significant interest over the past couple of years . Studies indicate that there are between 2 600t and 4 500t of contained tin in the historical dump . South Africa-based Bushveld Minerals has shown interest in recovering the tin from the cassiterite material lying on surface , which has already been milled .
Bushveld Minerals has identified a further five tin targets in its licence area : an estimated 6 000t of contained tin in coarse granite at Groenfontein and 12 500t of contained tin at Zaaiplaats . Both these ore bodies are earmarked for an opencast operation . In addition , there is the Marble Hall project , a separate licence area that has another 18 000t of contained tin , close to surface .
Lerama Resources , a subsidiary of Bushveld Minerals , is developing the Vlakfontein Tin Project on four farms centred on the old Vlakfontein Tin Mine , in the Limpopo Province . The tin mineralisation is exogenic and is localised in structures within a sequence of sedimentary rocks that abut against Bushveld ( Nebo ) Granites .
Vlakfontein was sporadically operated in the late 1940s to the early 1950s . The area was again investigated in the 1980s through a combination of sampling of the tailings and a drilling programme . The results were not considered economical at that time . The SnO2 grade ranges from 0.2 % to 1.5 %.
The Rooiberg tin field is located within the western lobe of the Bushveld Igneous Complex , close to Bela-Bela , also in the Limpopo Province . Mining at Rooiberg is spread out over a wide area . The centre of operations is at Rooiberg itself , with Vellefontein and Leeuwpoort 10km and 20km , respectively , south of the main complex . Nieuwpoort is 9km east of Rooiberg . Tin has been mined in the Rooiberg area since 1905 . The output of the fields , the largest tin producer in the Republic of South Africa , was nearly 900t metallic tin in 1961 . The other main locality is Leeuwpoort . Both these operations were discontinued in 1994 . There is a tin deposit near Kuils River in the Stellenbosch district in the Western Cape as well .
Namibia
The Uis mine is a large opencast mine located in the western part of Namibia in Erongo Region . Uis represents one of the largest tin reserves in Namibia , having estimated reserves of 60 million tonnes of ore grading 0.13 % tin . Uis was discovered in 1911 and later developed by Iscor as the largest hard-rock tin mine in the world , which produced around 100 000t of tin concentrate over its life of mine . Production started in the 1950s and ended in 1990 .
The Uis mine has attracted a lot of attention over the years and just as many buyers . The tin mineralisation is hosted in the V1 and V2 pegmatite ore bodies . The Uis tin mine is currently ( 2018 ) owned by AfriTin Mining after de-merging from Bushveld Minerals . AfriTin has undertaken a detailed mine design for the V1 and V2 pegmatite bodies and a processing plant location has been identified .
The Brandberg tin and tungsten mine is located 45km west-northwest of the Brandberg , close to Uis . The deposit belongs to a number of Sn-W deposits occurring in an east-northeast-trending belt of the Southern Kaoko Zone in the northern coastal branch of the Damara Orogen . Ore was extracted in an opencast mine between 1946 and 1980 . The Strathmore South Tin Mine was located in the heart of the Namib Desert . Today , the excavation has filled with water with a high salt content , enough to let you float like in the Dead Sea .
Zimbabwe
Kamativi Tine Mines , a wholly owned subsidiary of Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation , closed operations in 1994 after 58 years of operation . The mine is estimated to have
100 million tons of tin grading at 0.28 % tin . There is more than an estimated 23 million tons of historical tailings material on surface . In 2017 , 800 wells were dug , and 23 drill holes are planned to be sunk . Initially , results indicate that there is significant lithium mineralisation associated with the tin .
Swaziland
There is one tin prospect located at Oshoek , which was in production from 1907 to 1960 .
Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC )
The first major tin mine to be re-established in Africa was the Bisie Tin Mine , about 200km from Goma in North Kivu . The mine is owned and operated by Alphamin Bisie Mining ( ABM ), which is 80.75 % -owned by Toronto-listed Alphamin Resources , 14.25 % by South Africa ’ s Industrial Development Corporation ( IDC ), and 5 % by the DRC government . The mineral resource estimates were again updated in May 2016 , and it contains about 19 600t of tin in measured mineral resource , 188 400t of tin of indicated mineral resource , and 22 800t of tin of inferred mineral resources declared at a 0.5 % tin cut-off grade .
Nigeria hosts a number of tin resources , which is currently being looked at by a number of companies .
Upside for southern African tin deposits
The southern African region contains numerous tin deposits , most of which operated before the tin price collapse of the late 1980s . These mines generally contain both a hard rock mineralisation and tailings that can be recovered . There are several marginal deposits that were previously considered to be uneconomical , but with the current price of tin , it can be reconsidered and re-visited . b
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[ 24 ] MINING MIRROR AUGUST 2018