Name of the Project
Kasiya rutile/graphite project.

Location
Lilongwe district, central Malawi. 

Project Owner/s
Developer of mineral resource projects in Malawi, Sovereign Metals. 

Global mining group Rio Tinto is a strategic shareholder in Sovereign Metals, with 18.45%, and participates through the Sovereign–Rio Tinto Technical Committee. 

Project Description
Sovereign describes Kasiya as the world’s largest-known natural rutile deposit and the second-largest known flake graphite deposit. 

An optimised prefeasibility study (OPFS) announced in January 2025 reconfirmed Kasiya as a leading global future supplier of strategic critical minerals outside of China. 

The OPFS proposes a fully owner-operated, large-scale openpit dry mining operation using draglines and the trucking of material to the processing plants. The 2023 prefeasibility study (PFS) envisaged mining would be undertaken on a contractor basis. 

The project will have an initial life-of-mine (LoM) of 25 years, based on a hydraulic mining process where slurry material will be screened and pumped overland to processing plants. 

The OPFS proposes the construction of two 12-million-tonne-a-year processing plants – South Kasiya, followed by North Kasiya in Year 5. The mine plan is based on dry mining, with no drilling or blasting required.

As a result of dry mining, the material received at the plant is not pre-wet and prescrubbed. The OPFS, therefore, proposes a process plant front-end comprising two scrubbers and two oversize screens per 12-million-tonne plant. No further changes are proposed to the processing plant flowsheet. 

Average rutile production remains unchanged from the 2023 PFS, at 222 000 t/y, while average graphite production has increased to 244 000 t/y in the OPFS, from 233 000 t/y in the 2023 PFS. 

Total rutile production over the LoM is estimated at 5.55-million tonnes and total graphite at 6.28-million tonnes. 

As per the PFS, a conventional process will be used to produce rutile and graphite concentrate, with tailings in separate sand and fines streams being pumped to a conventional tailings storage facility (TSF). Mined-out pit areas will be backfilled as part of a rehabilitation process. 

Potential Job Creation
Kasiya will employ nearly 1 100 people, the majority of whom will be employed in plant operations. For every person employed directly, a significant multiplier of people will be employed in indirect jobs supporting the project. 

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The OPFS estimates pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $2.32-billion (2023 PFS: $2.42-billion), and an internal rate of return of 27% (2023 PFS: 32%). 

Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure (capex) to first production is estimated at $665-million, with total LoM development capex estimated at $1.23-billion (2023 PFS: $1.25-billion). 

Planned Start/End Date
Production at Kasiya is currently targeted to start in 2030. 

Latest Developments
Sovereign Metals reported a substantial upgrade to the mineral resource on March 18, 2026, increasing the total rutile mineral resource to 2.105-billion tonnes at 0.96% rutile containing 20.24-million tonnes of rutile. The same resource also contains 19.95-million tonnes of graphite at an average grade of 0.95% total graphitic carbon. The update will replace the April 2023 estimate as the resource base for the project’s definitive feasibility study (DFS), which Sovereign is advancing. 

A key outcome of the update is the marked improvement in resource confidence. Measured and indicated rutile resources are now 1.652-billion tonnes at 0.98% rutile containing 16.12-million tonnes of rutile. Consequently, 77% of the total rutile resource is now in the higher-confidence categories. The update also marks the first measured resource – totalling 107-million tonnes at 1.05% rutile for 1.12-million tonnes of contained rutile – declared at Kasiya. Sovereign has said this lifts the project to the classification standard required for a bankable DFS, and supports future financing and offtake discussions. 

Compared with the previous estimate, total resource tonnes increased by 16%, measured and indicated tonnes by 38%, measured and indicated contained rutile by 32%, and total contained rutile by 13%. The update also shows that, on a broader combined basis within the pit shell, the project hosts 3.428-billion tonnes grading 0.77% rutile and 1.09% total graphitic carbon containing 26.3-million tonnes of rutile and 37.3-million tonnes of graphite. 

Further, Sovereign Metals has signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japan’s Mitsui & Co for the potential supply of natural rutile from the project. The agreement outlines a framework for the supply of up to 70 000 t/y of natural rutile concentrate containing more than 95% titanium dioxide over an initial four-year period from first production, with the option to extend the supply arrangement by a further five years. 

The MoU is nonbinding and nonexclusive, with the parties intending to negotiate a definitive offtake agreement. The arrangement also remains subject to existing agreements with Rio Tinto Mining and Exploration and the International Finance Corporation. 

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
ProGraphite and Dorfner Anzaplan (testwork programmes). 

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