Uis Mine
REBUILDING ONE OF NAMIBIA’S GREAT TIN OPERATIONS FOR A NEW MINING ERA
www.andradamining.com
Uis M
REBUILDING ONE OF NAMIBI FOR A NEW M PRODUCED BY
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Mine
IA’S GREAT TIN OPERATIONS MINING ERA
Wenzile Ndlovu BUSINESS EXCELLENCE [ OCTOBER 2026 ]
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U
is has already lived through one mining lifetime. The settlement grew around tin, prospered with it and then had to adjust when large-scale production stopped in 1990. The mine remained written into the landscape through its old workings, waste dumps and the
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infrastructure left behind by an industry that had shaped the town for decades. Today, mining has returned, but the operation beside Uis is becoming very different from the one that came before it. Andrada Mining has rebuilt the mine in stages, beginning with
ANDRADA MINING
“Uis has already lived through one mining lifetime.”
what Chief Executive Officer Anthony Viljoen has described as essentially a pilot plant, then expanding it into a producing operation and increasing capacity as the business developed. That staged approach has brought Uis to an important point. In the six months to 31 August
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2026, the mine produced 955 tonnes of tin concentrate and 576 tonnes of contained tin, increases of 11% and 13% respectively on the same period a year earlier. Ore processed reached 538,810 tonnes, while the average plant processing rate climbed to 153 tonnes an hour. Around the operating plant, another expansion is now taking shape. New crushing equipment, an X-ray ore-sorting circuit and N$98 million of project financing are being brought together to lift annual tin concentrate production from the 1,740 tonnes achieved in FY2026 towards approximately 2,500 to 3,000 tonnes. Tin remains the foundation of the operation, tantalum already provides a second product, and work continues on recovering lithium from the same broader mineral system. The result is a mine whose future increasingly depends on how efficiently it can separate value from waste and how much more it can recover from every tonne it processes.
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A mine with a long memory
Tin mining around Uis predates the modern operation by almost a century. Small-scale activity began in the 1920s, while industrial development accelerated after Imcor acquired the mine in 1958. Imcor initially installed a plant capable of processing about 35 tonnes an hour, expanded that to roughly 100 tonnes an hour in 1966 and, by 1980, had increased capacity again to around 140 tonnes an hour. The mine became Namibia’s most important tinproducing operation, drawing people, businesses and services to Uis as the industry around it grew. When prolonged weakness in international tin prices eventually brought production to an end in 1990, the closure affected more than an industrial site. Uis itself had developed around mining, with housing and community infrastructure growing alongside the operation. The modern redevelopment therefore began with a very different set of circumstances from a greenfield discovery. Andrada inherited known mineralisation, historic workings and decades
ANDRADA MINING of geological knowledge, but still had to build a processing operation capable of making the deposit commercially relevant again. The company chose a staged route back into production. A smaller plant allowed Uis to return to operation before capacity was increased progressively through additional equipment and modifications to the processing circuit. By the year ended February 2026, Uis had processed 1.04 million tonnes of ore and produced 1,740 tonnes of tin concentrate containing 1,036 tonnes of tin. Six months later, plant availability had reached 91%, feed grade had improved to 0.149% tin and the operation had dispatched 36
concentrate shipments, compared with 25 in the corresponding period a year earlier. The next increase depends on changing what reaches the plant in the first place.
Taking waste out earlier
The central engineering challenge at Uis begins with the nature of the orebody. Material that contributes little recoverable metal still has to be mined, hauled and crushed. It consumes electricity, water, plant capacity and maintenance time before eventually being separated from the concentrate that generates revenue.
“The future of Uis increasingly depends on how much value can be recovered from every tonne it processes.”
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ANDRADA MINING Andrada’s current expansion is designed to remove more of that material before it enters the main concentration circuit. At the centre of the programme is X-ray transmission ore sorting supplied by TOMRA Sorting Mining. Material passing through the sorter is analysed according to differences in density, allowing lower-value rock to be separated from the higher-grade fraction before concentration. The effect is potentially significant. By rejecting more waste at the front end, Uis can send richer material into the existing processing plant and
make more effective use of equipment already in place. The sorter itself requires a wider change to the front-end arrangement. Intagrey is responsible for fabrication, construction and commissioning of the ore-sorting circuit, while Consulmet is carrying out the associated crushing and screening upgrades. The programme is being financed through ten-year facilities from Bank Windhoek and the Development Bank of Namibia, with each institution providing N$49 million. Andrada expects the completed programme
“The redesign reduced the outstanding capital requirement by more than 20%.”
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to increase annual tin concentrate output by approximately 50 to 70%, taking production from 1,740 tonnes in FY2026 towards approximately 2,500 to 3,000 tonnes a year. Implementation moved beyond the timetable initially anticipated after corporate restructuring, capital reprioritisation and re-engineering of parts of the project. The redesign reduced the outstanding capital requirement by more than 20%, while delivery moved into the FY2027 programme. Once the new circuit is operating, the focus will shift from construction to performance: whether the plant can sustain higher concentrate production and maintain availability as more material moves through the mine.
Making each tonne more valuable
The processing expansion is taking place against a stronger financial backdrop. For the year ended February 2026, Andrada reported revenue of £30.1 million, up 34% against restated FY2025 revenue of £22.4 million. Gross profit rose to £7.7 million, EBITDA reached £3.3 million and operating cash flow improved from a £4 million outflow in the previous year to £4.7 million of positive cash generation. The company still recorded a pretax loss of £9.4 million. A significant part of that result was linked to £5.2 million of losses associated with commodity swaps used to hedge tin exposure, including £4.4 million that remained unrealised at year end.
“Lithium could create another source of value from the same broader mineral system.”
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ANDRADA MINING
“Andrada reported 1,000 active suppliers in FY2025, including 878 Namibian companies.” The importance of the ore-sorting programme therefore extends beyond production volumes. If Uis can reject more waste earlier and feed highergrade material into the existing plant, metal output can rise without an equivalent increase in downstream processing effort. Tin remains the principal product, but tantalum is already recovered commercially. Lithium occurs within the same broader pegmatite system, largely as petalite, and Andrada continues technical and commercial work aimed at establishing a viable lithium concentrate stream from Uis. Viljoen said in September 2026 that the company was working with the European Investment Bank to advance the lithium opportunity. Metallurgical
test work has taken time, but Andrada continues to see lithium as capable of materially changing the economics of the operation. A successful lithium circuit would create another source of revenue from ore already associated with the existing mine. Combined with tantalum recovery and the expected gains from ore sorting, it could allow Uis to increase the value generated from material already moving through the operation.
From concentrate to customer
As Andrada prepares to increase production, it has also strengthened the commercial relationship that takes Uis tin into the international market.
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In February 2026, Uis Tin Mining Company extended its longstanding agreement with Thailand Smelting and Refining Co. Ltd, or Thaisarco. Under the revised arrangement, Thaisarco has exclusivity to purchase tin concentrate produced by UTMC under the terms of the agreement and has provided the company with a US$3 million unsecured, interest-free advance. For Uis, the agreement provides a defined customer for its principal product while giving the operation additional financial flexibility during a period of expansion. Tantalum follows a separate commercial route through AfriMet Resources AG. Those downstream relationships are matched by a growing group of engineering, laboratory, environmental and mining-service companies supporting the operation. Metso Southern Africa, SGS Minerals, SLR Consulting Namibia, UIS Analytical Services, Knight Piésold Namibia, METC Engineering, Eriez Magnetics South Africa,
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Sizemech Vibrations, Dwyka Mining Services and Nexus Group Namibia are among the businesses connected with the wider Uis operation. The scale of Andrada’s Namibian procurement is already substantial. In FY2025, the company reported 1,000 active suppliers, of which 878 were Namibian. Procurement expenditure inside Namibia reached approximately £25.28 million during the year. As Uis becomes more technically sophisticated, the mix of that spending becomes increasingly important. Processing, maintenance, laboratory services, engineering and specialist support all create opportunities for domestic companies to build capability around a long-life mining operation.
What investors see in Uis
Another indication of Uis’ changing status came in May 2026, when Evolve Royalties acquired an existing gross-revenue royalty over the mine from a fund managed by Orion Resource Partners
ANDRADA MINING for US$32.5 million. The transaction comprised US$22.5 million in cash and US$10 million in Evolve shares. The purchase did not provide capital to Andrada because Evolve acquired the royalty from its previous owner. It did, however, place a market value on an income stream tied directly to future Uis tin production. At the time of closing, Evolve estimated that the royalty could generate approximately US$4 million to US$4.5 million of revenue during 2026, depending on tin prices, production and the applicable royalty rate. For an operation whose modern development
began with a relatively small processing plant, that transaction provides another measure of how outside investors are assessing the mine’s production life and future cash generation.
The mine and the town
The development of Uis continues beyond the processing plant. Andrada has established a community office in Upper Town, providing a physical point of contact between the company and residents. Its education programmes have included the MEERKAT learning initiative, computer donations and support for schools in the area.
“Higher concentrate output must translate into stronger margins and cash generation.”
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Water infrastructure has also received attention. In FY2024, the mine worked with the Erongo Regional Council and NamWater to replace a 1.4-kilometre pipeline serving parts of Uis after calcification had reduced water pressure. Water remains a practical issue for both the settlement and the mine. Andrada’s current abstraction licence runs to January 2029, while filtration and recovery equipment within the processing operation is intended to improve the amount of water retained and reused within the circuit. Skills development forms another part of the connection between the mine and the surrounding economy. Andrada runs apprenticeship programmes in processing and maintenance, providing technical training relevant to an operation that is becoming more complex as new equipment and circuits are introduced. Local procurement extends that impact further. A Namibian supplier able to win repeat industrial
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work can build equipment, skills and employment around contracts that continue well beyond a single community programme. With 878 Namibian suppliers recorded in FY2025, Uis is already connected to a broad domestic supply base. The expansion now under way creates room for more specialist capability to develop around processing, engineering, maintenance and technical services.
Building the next Uis
Andrada’s wider Namibian portfolio now extends beyond Uis to Lithium Ridge and Brandberg West, where the company is advancing lithium, tungsten, copper and tin opportunities with strategic partners. Uis remains the producing asset beneath those ambitions. It generates revenue and operating cash flow. It has given Andrada experience in expanding processing facilities while keeping the mine
SANDFIRE MATSA
running. It is also where the company has to demonstrate that the size of its mineral resource can be translated into a larger and more efficient operation. The next stage has three clear measures. The first is commissioning. The new crushing and ore-sorting circuit has to move from construction into stable operation. The second is production. Against the FY2026 baseline of 1,740 tonnes of tin concentrate, Andrada is targeting approximately 2,500 to 3,000 tonnes annually once the expansion reaches steady state. The third is economic performance. Higher concentrate output has to feed through into stronger margins and cash generation. Those measures will provide the clearest indication of what the latest expansion has achieved. More than three decades after the original operation closed, Uis is once again a producing mine with international customers, Namibian
lenders, specialist engineering partners and hundreds of domestic suppliers connected to its development. The work now under way at the front of the plant will determine how much further that operation can grow and how much additional value can be recovered from the mineral system beneath it.
ANDRADA MINING - 5 Harries Road, Illovo Edge Office Park, Building 3, Ground Floor, Illovo, South Africa
+27 (0)11 268 6555 connect@andradamining.com www.andradamining.com
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Andrada Mining - 5 Harries Road, Illovo Edge Office Park, Building 3, Ground Floor, Illovo, South Africa
+27 (0)11 268 6555 connect@andradamining.com www.andradamining.com
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