Tin poised for the future – Andrada

Andrada Mining says it is positive tin will become a critical mineral in future, owing to its increased demand.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Mining Indaba, Andrada Mining CEO Andre Viljoen highlighted the factors that would propel the demand for tin in the coming years.

“Tin is a remarkable element. For many years, it has always been associated with tin cans and tin cups, but with the technology revolution, tin is a vital element in all your electrical equipment. What we are seeing now is the emergence of newer technologies, of artificial intelligence, new technologies hitting the market, so it’s really having a renaissance,” he said of the metal’s future prospects.

“We are seeing that thematic come through into the market, we are seeing there is little supply coming on-stream. You've got this increase in demand. You've got very difficult conditions where it is currently mined, we do see that there is a confluence of factors that is going to propel the tin price, and propel tin into the forefront of new technology metals,” he added.

Andrada was now being positioned to benefit from developments in the tin market owing to its growing demand and use.

“We are currently mining 1 000 tonnes of tin metal a year, and we are looking to increase that to 2 000 tonnes. We are also looking to increase our production to 50 000 tonnes of lithium concentrate a year,” Viljoen said.

The company recently announced its planned expansion. Part of that is doubling tin production.

“We have increased our output by 70%, doubled our revenue, built a lithium pilot plant. We've got the first lithium concentrate out of the pilot plant, and we are looking to integrate the pilot plant into the main circuit to mine the best ore body and to get the best economies of scale out of the deposit of this size,” he said.



Ways to go

Touching on the fundamentals of the lithium market, Viljoen said there was still some ways to go before a sustainable price level will be found. “Despite what has happened in the last couple of months with lithium, we do see that these current prices are not sustainable. The electric vehicle market is in its infancy, and what you get in the lithium market is an imbalance between the supply and demand. We have not found that equilibrium price yet,” he said.

Viljoen added that the emergence of new supply chains would help drive pricing developments in a positive trajectory for the lithium industry.

“We do see that there is not a lot of new supply coming on and that still needs to be realised, and what we are expecting is that this confluence of factors will lead to the lithium price regaining strength in the next 12 to 18 months,” Viljoen said.

Andrada Mining, he said, was perfectly positioned to benefit from future developments in the lithium industry, owing to its resource endowment.

“There are a lot of applications for lithium and, luckily for Andrada, we have got the type of lithium minerals that can be used across all applications in the lithium value chain."

Viljoen also lauded Namibia’s mineral endowment, saying there was a lot of value that can be unlocked in future.

“The good thing about Namibia is that it has got an unexplored geology that can unlock value for miners and the green energy transition."