Modern Mining January 2017

TIN

Bisie – a tin project without

Possibly no other mining project better exemplifies both the potential rewards of developing a mine in Africa as well as the huge obstacles that sometimes have to be overcome to get into production than Bisie – a veritable mountain of tin located in the depths of the DRC that is one of the richest (in terms of grade) and biggest undeveloped deposits of the metal to be found anywhere in the world. The company planning to create a modern, commercial-scale mine at Bisie is TSX-V-listed Alphamin Resources Corp. It has made considerable progress on the project which is now essentially ready to enter construction once funding is finalised.

B isie lies in North Kivu Province, 180 km west-northwest of Goma on Lake Kivu and roughly 40 km from Walikale, the nearest settle- ment of any size. Although it is easily accessible from Goma by helicopter (the flight is roughly an hour’s duration), access by road is much more difficult – and, until recent- ly, was not even possible. Recalls Boris Kamstra, Alphamin’s CEO: “When we first engaged with the project, the only way to get in from the Goma-Walikale- Kisangani road, a distance of about 35 km, was

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Boris Kamstra, CEO of Alphamin Resources.

to walk – largely through dense, very beauti- ful equatorial forest. Even getting to Walikale was – and still is – a mission as the road from Goma traverses a distance of 270 km or so, with 45 km of this being in poor condition. At this stage, fixed wing light aircraft cannot

32  MODERN MINING  January 2017