Andrada Mining has been racking in tantalum numbers with production from its Uis Mine in Namibia continuing to climb.
In the financial year ending February 2025, the company produced 50.6 tonnes of tantalum concentrate, equivalent to about 5.4 tonnes of contained tantalum. The momentum has carried into this year, with 27 tonnes produced in the first half of FY2026, including 15 tonnes in the most recent quarter, and around 10 tonnes already shipped to customers.
The ramp-up has been supported by a significant investment programme — roughly N$143 million — to expand plant capacity, install new ore-sorting systems, and improve gravity separation. Andrada’s Uis operation, located in Namibia’s Erongo Region, sits atop a vast 77.5-million-tonne pegmatite system hosting tin, lithium, and tantalum.
The company’s latest Mineral Resource Estimate (February 2025) reaffirmed Uis as one of the largest known tin-lithium-tantalum deposits in Africa, even after accounting for mining depletion.
A historical footnote that never faded
Tantalum’s story at Uis stretches back decades — long before it became part of Namibia’s new critical-mineral narrative.
The deposit was first worked in the early 20th century, when Uis Tin Mine operated under Iscor and later Consolidated Tin Mines of South West Africa.
The pegmatites were known to contain traces of tantalite, niobite, and microlite, but during the colonial and early independence years, the focus was squarely on tin.
The technology and market at the time made tantalum recovery uneconomic, and the metal remained locked within the tailings of past operations.
When AfriTin Mining acquired the dormant mine in 2017 — later rebranding as Andrada Mining — exploration data confirmed what earlier geologists had only noted in passing: that Uis was a true lithium–caesium–tantalum (LCT) pegmatite system.
Subsequent drilling and mineralogical analysis quantified those minor tantalum traces as a significant, recoverable resource.
By 2020, Andrada had integrated tantalum recovery into its plant design, establishing Namibia’s first consistent tantalum production stream in modern history.
What was once a neglected byproduct of tin mining has now become an emblem of technological change.
Today, the same pegmatite veins first charted in 1911 feed a circuit that produces high-purity tantalum concentrate.
This metal didn’t matter then, but it is critical to modern electronics, aerospace systems and clean-energy infrastructure today.
A modern polymetallic operation
What makes Uis exceptional is not only its polymetallic potential but also its evolution.
Once known purely as a tin mine, Andrada’s investment in modern processing has turned tantalum from a marginal byproduct into a meaningful contributor to revenue.
In FY2024, only 6.5 tonnes of tantalum concentrate were produced.
A year later, output had increased more than sevenfold, signalling a shift in both capability and focus.
The company, listed on London’s AIM and the U.S. OTCQB, owns the mine outright through its Namibian subsidiaries.
The sprawling 19,700-hectare licence area covers dozens of lithium–caesium–tantalum (LCT) pegmatites that were mined intermittently during the 20th century.
Today, they form the foundation of Andrada’s vision for a multi-metal operation that feeds the world’s energy transition.
Metallurgical test work has confirmed tantalum recoveries of 80–85% Ta₂O₅ using gravity and magnetic separation — a low-energy, low-waste process that enhances the project’s environmental credentials. Current operations produce tin, lithium concentrate and tantalum concurrently, with tantalum now expected to contribute between 3% and 5% of total revenue as throughput increases.
Chief Executive Officer Anthony Viljoen has described Uis as “a modern polymetallic mine built on a historic foundation.”
The mine’s success in producing tin while progressively scaling lithium and tantalum output gives Namibia a foothold in the global market for technology metals.
“We are building an operation that will supply the metals the world needs — responsibly and at scale,” Viljoen said recently.
The next phase of development focuses on improving plant recoveries, expanding throughput, and integrating downstream opportunities.
The ore-sorting plant, commissioned in 2024, is designed to pre-concentrate ore and reduce waste, increasing feed grades for all three key metals.
Once optimisation is complete, tantalum output is projected to reach about 80 tonnes per year.
Beyond Uis, Andrada’s partnership with Chilean lithium giant SQM at its nearby Lithium Ridge Project extends the company’s presence across Namibia’s Erongo pegmatite belt.
That collaboration — blending Andrada’s local expertise with SQM’s technical and financial muscle — is expected to drive exploration and potentially expand Namibia’s role as a regional hub for lithium and tantalum production.
The combination of ethical sourcing, low energy intensity and local employment — more than 400 Namibians currently work at Uis — gives the project both economic and social weight.
From an overlooked byproduct to a valuable commodity, tantalum has quietly stepped into the spotlight at Uis. Andrada’s progress suggests that Namibia’s critical-mineral story is only beginning — and tantalum, long hidden in the shadow of tin, may yet define the next chapter of its desert mine.
