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.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Sovereign Metals has started a hydraulic mining trial as part of the ongoing pilot phase of its pilot mining and land rehabilitation programme.

The hydraulic mining trial aims to further develop previous testwork as part of the project’s optimisation study and is being conducted by Fraser Alexander, following the successful completion of a dry mining trial in July.

The trial is expected to take about three months to complete and includes backfilling of the main trial pit, deposition and rehabilitation testwork. The company says previous testwork suggests that the soft, friable nature of the Kasiya orebody should be suitable for hydraulic mining.

The pilot phase continues to progress with oversight from the Sovereign-Rio Tinto technical committee.

Key Contracts, Suppliers, and Consultants
SocialEssence (continued development of Sovereign’s stakeholder relations, social performance objectives and its corporate social responsibility framework); and Fraser Alexander (mining trial).

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