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Miner unveils rutile deposits at Kasiya

Australian Stock Exchange (ACX)-listed Sovereign Metals Limited has unveiled rutile deposits in Kasiya, Lilongwe, which the company says is one of the largest in the world’s.

The maiden resource totals 644 million tonnes at 1.01percent rutile for 6.5 metric tonnes (MT) of contained metal.

Within this, according to the miner, is a higher-grade component of 137MT at 1.41percent rutile for 1.9MT.

In a statement, the firm’s managing director Julian Stephens said the maiden mineral resource estimates Kasiya as a strategic and globally significant natural rutile discovery.

Stephens: This is just the beginning

He said:  “It is a remarkable result to achieve the maiden mineral resource estimate of this scale, grade and global significance in under 18 months since discovery.

“We believe this maiden resource is just the beginning and expect to upgrade and expand the resource over the coming quarters.”

Stephens said the company is surging forward with the Kasiya scoping study which will target a large-scale natural rutile operation to help address the supply deficit and reduce the titanium industry’s environmental footprint.

Natural rutile is the purest, highest-grade natural form of titanium dioxide (TiO2) and is the preferred feedstock in manufacturing titanium pigment and producing titanium metal.

Currently rutile market is in supply deficit with prices rising steadily over the last 12 months, according to the firm.

This is due to increased demand coupled with existing global rutile reserves being in overall decline and limited additional supply forecast to come online in the near to medium term.

In April this year,  President Lazarus Chakwera outlined his administration’s policy on mining to support government’s efforts to restructure the country’s largely agro-based economy.

Chakwera underscored the importance saying the sector could transform the country’s economy adding that his administration will  push forward a vision of industrialisation in the country which he described as “mineral rich”

Meanwhile, the 2021 growth for the sector has been revised downwards from 2.8 percent reported in August 2020 to 1.2 percent as of February 2021 on account of the Covid-19 pandemic which hindered production, exploration and investment prospects. 

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