Andrada Mining Ltd said it is beginning an exploration programme at its Brandberg West licence, 110km west of its flagship Uis tin mine.

The exploration programme, where a planned 3,000 metres of drilling will begin before the end of the calendar year, will enable the company to determine the extent of the mineralisation in and around what was historically a prolific producer of tin and tungsten, with indications of copper, the company said in a statement.

“The project provides an exciting opportunity for us to duplicate the development process we have successfully implemented at Uis, by taking it from an abandoned historical operation, into a fully-fledged producing mine,” said chief executive Anthony Viljoen.

He pointed to historical figures showing that the EPL5445 licence “has the potential to double the current volume of tin concentrate produced at Uis” as well as potentially adding tungsten and copper to the company’s production roster.

“The Erongo region continues to prove itself to be an untapped technology metals province, and we are excited to be commencing work on what we believe will be another world class technology metals asset.”

The first of two exploration phases will investigate the historical mining area and potential extensions of the mineralisation along strike via the drilling programme, with the second phase investigating the mineralisation potential of the wider license area through sampling and geological mapping.