Tins of Heinz Beans first went on sale at Fortnum & Mason in 1886, billed as a luxury item. But the history of tin dates back 3,500 years, when Turkish farmers discovered that if they blended the metal with copper, they could create a stronger, more resilient compound than anyone had ever known. Enter the Bronze Age, an era that transformed society.
Tin’s status as a critical metal lasted for millennia – used in coins, ships and industry as well as food preservation. But demand fell in the 1980s and 1990s, as prices sank and exploration dried up.
Today, however, tin has regained its status. Used to solder circuit boards together, tin is a critical component of all things electronic, including data centres – the backbone of the internet. Soaring interest in artificial intelligence has fuelled demand for these facilities and recent forecasts suggest numbers could soar by 50 per cent or more over the next three years.
Some of the more extravagant predictions were thrown into doubt last week, following news that the Chinese had developed DeepSeek, a cheap and cheerful version of America’s ChatGPT. US tech stocks floundered and questions were raised about the future of AI and any industry related to it.
But price competition is a natural by-product of any market, lower costs may well provoke increased use of AI and even sceptics acknowledge that data centres will be needed in abundance, as the industry expands.
This bodes well for tin, as supply is constrained across the world and investment has been limited for decades. Burma, a major producer, imposed a ban on mining in 2023, which remains largely in force today and new mines elsewhere are thin on the ground.
Africa-based Andrada Mining is an exception. The only listed tin producer on the London stock market, Andrada floated in 2017 and now has a fully functioning mine in Namibia, a country known for its political stability and mining expertise. Andrada delivered 885 tons of tin in the year to February 2024, production of around 1,000 tons is expected this year, and chief executive Anthony Viljoen intends to ramp up output to 1,600 tons in 2026.
Viljoen has mining in his blood. His father Richard and uncle Morris were renowned geologists with a host of mining discoveries to their name. The twins helped set up Andrada and secure mining licences to a vast 75 square-mile plot, the size of Manchester and Brighton combined.
Once owned by the South African state, the area had been dormant for around 30 years but the Viljoens recognised its potential and brought it back to life.
Today, the site, known as Uis, is home to one of the largest hard rock open pit mines in the world, with sufficient tin resources to last into the 22nd century. Tin is not just a must-have for data centres. The metal plays a vital role in many day-to-day products, from mobile phones and TVs to washing machines and fridge-freezers.
Also deployed in solar panels and electric vehicles, tin is a flag-bearer for the green revolution and widely used in traditional industries too.
Geopolitical tensions have accentuated concerns about future supplies. China is the largest producer of tin in the world but America and Europe are keen to source the metal from elsewhere and Andrada should benefit.
Uis does not just contain thousands of tons of tin but two other valuable metals as well: tantalum and lithium. All smartphones contain around 0.1g of tantalum and with prices topping $100,000 (£80,000) per ton, even small quantities can make a big difference to Andrada’s bottom line.
Lithium was almost a by-product of the mine but Viljoen is keen to start commercial sales and hopes to take production up to at least 50,000 tons annually within the next two to three years.
Andrada has made healthy progress since floating on Aim in 2017 but the stock has had a rough ride, slumping from 7.4p to 2.25p in the past 18 months alone after some production challenges. These have now been addressed, suggesting that Andrada shares are fundamentally undervalued at current levels and should rebound this year and beyond.
Tin prices soared to almost $50,000 (£40,000) a ton in 2022 but tumbled to below $20,000 (£16,000) as economic conditions shifted. There has been some recovery since those lows, with prices hovering just below $30,000 (£24,000) a ton but many forecasters believe tin is ready to soar again.
Andrada has two other mine sites as well, including Lithium Ridge, just a few miles from Uis. Thought to have significant potential, Lithium Ridge has secured funding from Chilean lithium giant, SQM, which has agreed to finance the site’s development, with tens of millions of dollars in exchange for a stake in the mine.
Midas verdict: Viljoen has been investing heavily in Andrada’s acreage and his work should bear fruit this year and beyond. At just 2p, the shares are a long-term buy.
Traded on: Aim Ticker: ATM Contact: andradamining.com
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