Name of the Project
Kasiya rutile/graphite project.

Location
Central Malawi.

Project Owner/s
Sovereign Metals and Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto invested in Sovereign in July 2023, resulting in an initial 15% shareholding and options, and expiring within 12 months of initial investment, to increase its position to 19.99%. Under the investment agreement, Rio Tinto will provide assistance and advice on technical and marketing aspects of Kasiya, including on Sovereign’s graphite co-product, with a primary focus on spherical purified graphite for the lithium-ion battery anode market.

Project Description
Kasiya is the biggest natural rutile deposit and second-largest flake graphite deposit in the world. The project has an inferred resource of 609-million tonnes grading 0.9% rutile and 1.1% graphite, for total contained tonnages of 5.7-million and 6.5-million for the two minerals respectively.

A prefeasibility study has confirmed a potentially major critical minerals project, with an extremely low carbon dioxide footprint delivering significant volumes of natural rutile and graphite while generating significant economic returns.

The proposed large-scale operation will process 24-million tonnes of ore a year to produce an estimated 245 000 t of natural rutile and 288 000 t of natural graphite a year at steady state, for an initial mine life of 25 years.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $1.61-billion and an internal rate of return of 28%, with a payback of 4.3 years from the start of production.

Capital Expenditure
Capital costs to first production are estimated at $597-million. Expansion capital is estimated at $287-million.

Planed Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Sovereign Metals has started an infill drilling programme to support ongoing technical studies.

Aircore drilling, supported by push tube/diamond core and hand auger drilling, will upgrade part of the current mineral resource estimate planned for Stage 1 production from the indicated to the measured category under the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (2012) code.

The drilling is planned to infill the southern part of Kasiya, specifically around previously designated pits proposed to provide ore feed in the first eight years of the project's planned production schedule. Ore reserves in these areas are expected to be converted from the probable to the proven ore reserves category.

An offset 200 m × 200 m programme has been designed, which will result in an average drill spacing of 142 m. The offset spacing has the advantage of allowing for the analysis of geology and grade continuity in orthogonal and diagonal directions.

The drilling programme will comprise more than 250 aircore holes for more than 5 000 m, with an average depth of 20 m, as well as more than 250 hand auger holes for more than 750 m, with an average depth of 3 m.

Thirty push tube or diamond core holes will also be drilled, providing samples for geotechnical analysis and verification sampling with an average depth of 20 m.

Further, several 3-m-deep pits will be drilled to obtain detailed rutile-grade information from the upper profile and provide additional geotechnical information.

All samples will have rutile and graphite assayed by off-site laboratories in South Africa. Results of the drilling programme and subsequent resource upgrade are expected in early 2025.

Sovereign believes Kasiya is already the world's largest rutile deposit and second-largest flake graphite deposit, with more than 66% of the current mineral resource estimate in the indicated category.

The current mineral resource estimate defines broad and contiguous zones of high-grade rutile and graphite, which occur across a large area of more than 201 km². Rutile mineralisation is concentrated in laterally extensive, near-surface, flat "blanket-style” orebodies in areas where the weathering profile is preserved and not significantly eroded.

Graphite is depleted near the surface, with grades improving at depths generally more than 4 m to the base of the saprolite zone, which averages about 22 m.

Key Contracts, Suppliers, and Consultants
SocialEssence (continued development of Sovereign’s stakeholder relations, social performance objectives and its CSR framework).

Contact Details for Project Information
Sovereign Metals, Tel +61 8 9322 6322, or email info@sovereignmetals.com.au.