Sovereign Metals (ASX:SVM) has uncovered an 8km southern extension of mineralisation outside of the current JORC 2012 compliant Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) area at its Kasiya Project in Malawi, Africa.
The company says the MRE at Kasiya is already the largest natural rutile deposit and second largest flake graphite deposit in the world. It contains 1.8 billion tonnes at 1% rutile and 1.4% graphite comprising broad contiguous zones of ‘high-grade’ rutile and graphite that occur across an area of over 201km-square.
The $239.27 million market capitalisation company says the extension, identified from a wide-spaced regional reconnaissance drilling program, remains open along strike and at depth, demonstrating potential for an MRE increase.
Sovereign announces current focus at Kasiya remains on the ongoing optimisation study alongside strategic investor Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and permitting work streams alongside the Malawian Interministerial Committee.
Managing Director Frank Eagar says: “These drilling results re-confirm the significant scale of the Kasiya deposit with the strike now stretching over 37km long. Sovereign continues to test the extent of regional mineralisation via low-cost hand-auger drilling, which has the potential to increase the already very large Kasiya resource.”
A Prefeasibility Study (PFS) released in late 2023 demonstrated Kasiya’s potential to become the world’s largest rutile and graphite producers outside of China based on an initial 25 year life-of-mine.
Based on the PFS, the project is expected to produce on average 222,000 and 244,000 tonnes per annum of rutile and natural graphite, respectively.
The PFS also demonstrated ‘robust’ economics with a post-tax net present value of US$1.6 billion, post-tax internal rate of return of 28%, and an average annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation of US$415 million per annum.
PFS modelling was limited to only 25 years with an initial ore reserves declared of 538 million tonnes, only 30% of the total MRE.
Sovereign Metals holds a strategic rutile province across its ‘large’ groundholding in Malawi.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Sovereign Metals
