Alphamin put EBITDA guidance at US$53 million and said it had moved to a net cash position at September 30.

It had reported June quarter EBITDA of $34.1 million, at a tin price of $28,308 per tonne, and had ended that period with net debt of $29.5 million.

Tin has risen 125% since March 2020 and is near the all-time record of $36,770/t reached in September, due to supply constraints and increasing demand particularly from consumer electronics.

Alphamin produces about 4% of the world's tin supply from its majority-owned Mpama North underground mine at the Bisie project in the DRC.

It said contained tin production for the September quarter of 2,832t was 17% above the previous quarter, with underground mining practices relating to stope planning, delineation and blasting significantly improved from mid-July.

"This resulted in an average tin grade of 3.8% processed during August and September 2021 with an average of 3.5% for the quarter," Alphamin said.

The company had reduced second half production guidance in August from 6,500t to 5,500t due to the temporary "lower grade window" of 3.2-3.5%.

Run-of-mine volumes and waste development increased by 5% quarter-on-quarter and the newly-commissioned Fine Tin Plant increased overall processing recoveries by 5% to 75%, it said.

The company said it intended to fully settle the outstanding senior loan of $36 million during October and would set "an appropriate treasury strategy" this quarter, to balance capital allocations between ongoing exploration drilling, the potential fast-track development of Mpama South and shareholder distributions.

Alphamin is aiming for an initial resource by year-end at Mpama South, where it's been reporting high-grade drilling results including 3.2m at 9.59% tin from 173.7m in July.

Alphamin's Toronto-listed shares (TSX: AFM) are trading around a 15-year high and closed up 7.3% yesterday to C88c, valuing it at $1 billion (US$0.8 billion).