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Sovereign Metals appoints graphite expert to advance development of Kasiya
Mining
Sovereign Metals is expanding its already world-class $1.6bn Kasiya rutile and graphite deposit
Mining
Mining
Sovereign Metals says it’s updated the mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its Kasiya project in Malawi – and wowzers – it’s a huge 1.8 billion tonnes at 1.01% rutile.
Contained rutile at the deposit now stands at 18 million tonnes – tripling the previous MRE – while contained flake graphite by-product now stands at 23 million tonnes.
A total of 662 million tonnes, or 37%, of the total MRE reports to the indicated category with remainder in the Inferred category.
The company says this puts Kasiya as a Tier 1 natural rutile deposit with more than double the contained rutile as its nearest rutile peer, Sierra Rutile.
Plus, the graphite by-product MRE at Kasiya places it as the second largest flake graphite deposit in the world.
“It is a really remarkable achievement by our team to have made the largest natural rutile discovery ever in just two years since initial identification,” Sovereign Metals (ASX:SVM) MD Dr Julian Stephens said.
“The JORC MRE of this scale and grade is clearly highly strategic, Tier 1 and of global significance in a market where natural rutile is in extreme supply deficit.”
Notably, the overall recovered rutile equivalent grade for the MRE at the global 0.7% cut-off is 1.64% RutEq (recovered rutile + recovered graphite).
The company will now update the scoping study to reflect the substantial MRE scale increase to examine the impact of higher grades, increased production volumes and increased mine-life.
“The step-change in scale will now allow us to examine potentially higher-grade throughput, increased production levels and a longer mine life in the upcoming scoping study update,” Dr Stephens said.
“The company is targeting a large-scale, low carbon-footprint and environmentally sustainable natural rutile and graphite operation which will also positively impact the environmental footprint of titanium pigment and other industries and provide a significant contribution to the economy of Malawi.”
The scoping study update is expected in Q2 2022, and the initial Pre-feasibility Study (PFS) is targeted for completion in early 2023.
Graphite rich mineral pre-concentrate will be produced from the light fraction of the gravity spiral tails and processed in a separate graphite flotation plant to produce a high-quality flake graphite by-product with a low production cost.
A very coarse-flake and high-grade graphite product at 96% TGC can be produced via a simple flowsheet.
The Kasiya graphite is also highly crystalline and of high purity – both important features required for use in lithium-ion battery anodes.
This article was developed in collaboration with Sovereign Metals Limited, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.