Testwork conducted on monazite concentrate recovered from Sovereign Metals' Kasyia rutile/graphite project, in Malawi, has confirmed that the heavy rare earth content of dysprosium, terbium and yttrium first reported in January is present in four pits that are scheduled to be mined in the early years of production.

Kasiya, already at a definitive feasibility study (DFS) stage with a $2.2-billion pre-tax net present value, contains the four magnetic rare earth elements plus highly critical yttrium recoverable from the DFS flowsheet as a potential by-product alongside rutile and graphite.

Sovereign points out that the tested monazite concentrates have been recovered from the non-conductor tailings stream of the processing flowsheet specified in the Kasiya DFS. This is material that would otherwise report to tailings.

The recovery of this material as a by-product of the DFS-specified flowsheet means that the company would not have to invest in additional mining, new primary processing circuits, the parallel rare earths processing plants needed by primary rare earth producers or additional reagents.

Monazite concentrate recovery is, therefore, potentially achievable at near-zero incremental costs relative to the DFS base case.

"These results confirm that the monazite-hosted rare earth content first reported in January is present in pits scheduled for the early years of production at Kasiya. The monazite concentrate contains all four magnetic rare earth elements – neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium – plus highly critical yttrium.

"These elements appear to be recoverable from the current tailings stream of our definitive feasibility study (DFS) flowsheet. We are advancing the additional mineralogical and metallurgical work required to quantify the potential economic upside to the DFS reported last month," comments Sovereign MD and CEO Frank Eagar.

Sovereign notes that further work is required to assess the capital and operating cost implications of any downstream product separation or refining, and to characterise the mineralogy, deportment, liberation and radioactive element (uranium and thorium) handling requirements of the Kasiya monazite.

Meanwhile, the company also reports that the average total rare earth oxide (TREO) basket ratios for the Kasiya project are estimated to be about seven times higher than that of the world's five largest rare earths producers.

An independent price report for a monazite concentrate has been prepared based on the composition of a 60% TREO basket. Owing to the high proportion of heavy rare earths within Kasiya's TREO basket, the independent report has identified the potential for a premium to benchmark monazite prices.

The 2026 forecast base-case price is $16 000/t, against a current benchmark monazite concentrate (54% to 55% TREO grade) price of about $6 142/t.