Maritz Smith

ALPHAMIN’S twin-mine complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a motherlode of high-grade tin, accounting for about 7% of global production. It’s a tough place to operate in but Smith has made a proper go of it. With the completion of the Bisie mine expansion, Alphamin in 2024 turned its attention back to ongoing exploration drilling. The exploration objectives are ambitious. The first is to increase the Mpama North and Mpama South resource base and life of mine. The second is to discover the next tin deposit in close proximity to the Bisie mine, and given the neighbourhood that seems a likely prospect. 

The company also has ongoing grassroots exploration in search of remote tin deposits. It clearly has its sights set on landing another whopper. All of this is enticing bait for geologists, and Alphamin hopes that investors will also ‘rise to the fly’ as tin remains a key industrial metal, with new applications for the green metal transition. Certainly there’s interest in the asset from Abu Dhabi’s International Resources Holding. According to a Bloomberg report last year, the Emirate may take a stake in an investment vehicle to be created by Alphamin’s 57% shareholder Denham Capital. 

Nothing is imminent at the time of writing, but Rob Still, the veteran South African mining entrepreneur and partner in Denham, said the project had “solicited considerable interest from a number of parties”. This is all testament to Smith & Co because there were only doubts about jurisdiction when they started on Bisie.