ASX-listed Sovereign Metals has successfully completed a dry mining trial at the Kasiya rutile and graphite project in Malawi. The trial involved a test pit excavation for pilot mining and a land rehabilitation program.
The test pit, measuring 120 m by 110 m and excavated to a depth of 20 m, utilized four excavators, 20 trucks, and a support fleet of bulldozers and a motor grader.
The trial confirmed that the ore can be efficiently mined using conventional dry mining techniques and a mobile excavator fleet.
Sovereign’s Managing Director, Frank Eagar, highlighted that the completion of the test pit at this scale is a significant achievement.
Valuable mining, hydrology, and geotechnical data have been collected, enhancing the understanding of the orebody.
This data indicates that no drilling, blasting, crushing, grinding, or milling is required before stockpiling material for processing into rutile and graphite products.
Eagar noted that this points to potentially lower mining costs and a reduced carbon footprint compared to hard-rock deposits.
Next, the company will undertake a hydraulic mining trial, cyclone separation of ore, backfilling of test pits, and soil rehabilitation.
Sovereign has constructed a temporary water storage pond, sealed with natural clay from the excavated material, minimizing the use of conventional plastic lining.
The pond, nearing its six-million-litre capacity, is being filled through eight boreholes supplying water to the site. This water will be used for the hydraulic mining stage.
The company aims to restore the land post-mining to conditions that achieve equal or better agricultural yields than the existing land use and crop yields. The trial work is also informing an upcoming definitive feasibility study.
Kasiya currently has an inferred resource of 609 million tonnes, grading 0.9% rutile and 1.1% graphite, for total contained tonnages of 5.7 million tonnes of rutile and 6.5 million tonnes of graphite.
