Overview
| Stage | Production |
| Mine Type | Underground |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
|
| Production Start | ...  |
| Mine Life | 2029 |
Source:
p. 3
The Bisie Tin mine occurs within Permis de Exploitation (Mining Permit) PE13155, along with 3 research permits granted to Alphamin’s DRC-registered subsidiary, Alphamin Bisie Mining SA (“ABM”). ABM is an 84.14% indirect controlled subsidiary of Alphamin, with the remaining 15.86% owned by the DRC government (5%) and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Ltd (“IDC”) (10.86%).
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
- Vein / narrow vein
Summary:
The Bisie tin deposit is a cassiterite-bearing stock-work or vein system adjacent and possibly distal to underlying source granite. The mineralization at Bisie is unusual and different from other classic tin deposits. The deposit has up to 0.5 % rare earth elements (REE) and very high grade tin (with some sample assays reaching greater than 60 % Sn).
The deposit can be simply described as a number of steeply dipping tabular sheets of variable grade mineralization consisting of irregular veins and disseminations of cassiterite that is complex on a small scale.
On a regional scale the metamorphic rock units generally strike northwest-southeast. The ridge hosting the Bisie mineralization strikes north-south as far as the Oso River in the north, after which the strike of the ridge changes to the northwest-southeast. Regional scale folding is evident in the satellite imagery.
The stratigraphic rock package hosting the Bisie deposit has been divided into five separate units.
From hangingwall to footwall, a general description of the major units is as follows:
• Carbonaceous shale (CBSH) - dark grey to black, thinly bedded (0.5 cm to 2 cm), fine grained, carbonaceous siltstone-shale greater than 150 m true thickness. Contains abundant quartz-tourmaline-carbonate veins and minor pyrite.
• Meta-sediment (METS) - pale grey, thinly bedded (0.5 cm to 2 cm), fine-grained siltstone-shale 30 m to 40 m true thickness. The host rock ........
Summary:
Geological Considerations
The ore body dips at approximately 60° to 65° to the east and strikes close to North-South. The mineralized zone plunges approximately 25° towards the north. The mineralization is open in a northerly plunging direction and for a limited extent to the south. The strike of the payable zone ranges from 490m in the shallow areas to 150m in the deeper areas of the mine. The deposit remains open at depth.
The Mpama North orebody consists of a single mineralized zone of 5 to 10m wide. The Main Vein zone of the deposit, which accounts for approximately 97.5% of the Mineral Resource (by tin content), is on average approximately 9 m thick. It narrows (~2m) at the margins and can be up to 20 m thick in the central, and generally higher grade, area. The zones that occur several metres above and below the main zone are generally considerably narrower than the Main Vein zone and cover areas of between 100 m and 200 m in the dip and strike directions.
The orebody is accessed via a central decline and a series of levels and ore drives. A number of other ancillary excavations are also used either for access to or extraction and transportation of the ore. The dimensions of each of the excavations is driven by the selected mining method, access design, equipment selection and ventilation requirements.
Cut and fill mining was initially used at Mpama North. During this time the mine experienced difficulty in building up and maintain ........
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Production:
| Commodity | Units | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|
Tin
|
t
| ...... ^ | ...... | ...... | ...... |
All production numbers are expressed as payable metal.
^ Guidance / Forecast.
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Operational Metrics:
| Metrics | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|
Tonnes processed
| ...... | ...... | 94,933 t |
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Reserves at December 31, 2019:
Bisie Mpama North Mineral Resource at 0.50% Sn Cut-off grade as at 30 June 2019.
The Reserve cut-off grade was calculated based on an assumed metal price (USD18,000/t Sn) and operating costs (USD172/t milled) with process recovery assumption (72%) and other factors, taking account of mining losses and geology. The calculation determined a cut-off grade of 1.6% Sn, which was used to limit the mine design to areas of the orebody where the in-situ grade exceeded 1.6% Sn.
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
|
Proven & Probable
|
3.33 Mt
|
Tin
|
4.01 %
|
133.38 kt
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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