Sovereign managing director Dr Julian Stephens said: “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.
We spoke to Sapan Ghai, Chief Commercial Officer who is based in London to get his reaction to the news update, here are a few of the questions we asked.
1. Can you just run us through the highlights of the RNS?
2. This is a timely discovery given the current supply/demand fundamentals of rutile isn’t it?
3. What’s the plan with the graphite?
4. What can listeners look forward to next?
Sovereign Metals Ltd, (ASX:SVM, AIM:SVML) declared a new record after delivering an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 1.8 billion tonnes. This confirms that the Kasiya Rutile Deposit in Malawi is both the largest rutile deposit ever discovered and the second-largest flake-graphite deposit.
Kavango Resources (LON: KAV) Chief Operating Officer, Brett Grist, has recently returned from Botswana, where he conducted an extensive review of the Company’s operations. Kavango presents Brett’s operational review for shareholders.
Brett Grist, Chief Operating Officer of Kavango Resources, comments: The team that Ben and Hillary have assembled over the last 12 months is impressive and committed to Kavango. I had a highly productive time in Botswana and have prepared an initial note on our current project status.
I am particularly encouraged by the exploration potential across Kavango’s large portfolio of projects. Botswana benefits from a skilled workforce, an excellent road network, and a government that pro-actively supports mining. It has favourable geology for discoveries, as reflected in some of the recent high-grade copper discoveries now being operated in the Kalahari Copper Belt by companies such as Sandfire Resources.
Power Metal (AIM: POW) An update on its Clearwater and Thibault Lake Uranium Properties (together with the “Properties”), within the Beaverlodge Uranium District, which are part of the larger uranium (U) property portfolio that includes seven 100% owned interests (Table 1) covering an area of 450.01km2 (45,001-hectares), surrounding the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan, Canada (the “Uranium Portfolio”).
Cadence Minerals PLC (AIM: KDNC) Commencement of Shipment of Iron Ore from the Amapa Iron Ore Project, Brazil. This shipment represents the first export of iron ore since Cadence vested its equity interest (27%) in the Amapa Iron Ore Project (“Amapa Project”) earlier this year. The shipments completed last year were approved via a court petition and were before our equity interest in the Amapa Project.
We expect that this shipment will complete this month, and under the current economic environment, DEV intends to continue with the shipment and sale of its 58% iron ore stockpile. There is currently circa 1.25 million tonnes of DEV stockpile at its port in Santana.
Chaarat Gold Hlgs Ld (AIM: CGH) Full year results for the year ended 31 December 2021. US$92.4 million generated revenues from concentrate sales in 2021, US$72.8 million relates to own ore revenue (+4%) and US$19.6 million relates to third-party ore revenue (+221%) (2020: US$69.9 million and US$6.1 million) with increases driven by more favourable commodity prices and higher third-party ore throughput.
The Group EBITDA³ was US$13.5 million, 45% higher compared to last year (2020: US$9.3 million). The Group loss after tax was US$3.6 million, an improvement of 84% from a loss after tax of US$22.4 million in 2020. Cash and cash equivalents increased from US$6.9 million to US$11.1 million year over year (+61%).
Mkango Resources Ltd, (AIM: MKA), announced that it had identified two drill targets at Nkalonje Hill’s rare earths project. These drill targets are close to the Songwe Hill rare Earths development project in Malawi. Samples returned assay results of grades up to 5.92% TREO, Total Rare Earth Oxides. The median grade was 2.96%.
Alexander Lemon, President of Mkango, commented:
“We are extremely encouraged by the recent exploration results for the Nkalonje Hill Rare Earths project. The targets generated from the mapping and geophysics data are exciting indicators of the potential for further mineralisation at depth. The similarities between Nkalonje and Songwe Hill, and the high TREO grades from the assay results, demonstrate a strong case for further investigation. In the long term, the close proximity of Nkalonje to Songwe provides a good potential source of additional REE feedstock for processing at Songwe.”
Empire Metals Ltd. (AIM: EEE) acquired a 70% stake in three Australian copper-gold mining projects from Century Minerals Pty Ltd. The Pitfield, Walton and Stavely projects are located in Western Australia. According to Dr Kerim Sener, the company’s Managing Director, the development of Ariana Resources PLC (AIM: AAU) second Turkish gold mine “is moving at a pace”.
Investors were provided with an update on the progress of mine construction at Tavsan once permits are finalised and banks approve financing.
Cobra Resources PLC, (LSE: COBR) surged 16% on the back of strong buying interest. The Wudinna Gold Project in Southern Australia was a positive success story for the gold explorer. All holes were at 350 parts per million (PPM) total rare Earth oxide (TREO) cutoff. This resulted in significant intersections.
Power Metal Resources PLC (LON: POW), announces the March 2022 quarterly business operational update for shareholders.
Paul Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Power Metal Resources plc, commented:
“We built our portfolio for a time when metal prices would rise, when metal supply shortages would become exposed, and when participants in the metals space would see the strategic value of a well-constructed portfolio of active mineral projects.
Power Metal has benefited from a 3-year long opportunity to build this portfolio, through challenging market conditions. With entrepreneurial hard work, our team has positioned the business with the right combination of commodity, geographical and geological diversification.
AfriTin Mining Ltd. (AIM: ATM). has outlined a five-year plan for increasing tin production by threefold and producing substantial amounts of tantalum and lithium. The current production at the Uis mine in Namibia, Namibia, is 850 tonnes per year of tin concentrate (tpa).
Caerus Mineral Resources PLC (LSE: CMRS) and Bezant Resources PLC (AIM: BZT) Announced a Maiden Resource Estimate for their Troulli joint venture in Cyprus.
The project has a total hard rock resource estimated at about a 4.9million tonnes (Mt), at 0.41% Copper and 0.2 grammes per tonne (g/t). This amounts to 20,000t copper metal and 31,000 ounces of gold (oz) which includes 460t copper and 7,700oz at the higher level.
Caracal Gold PLC (LON: GCAT) Update on Nairobi Securities Exchange Listing. The Company, with its advisers Faida and VSA, has made progress with the pre-listing requirements, with the only pending item being the updating of the latest consolidated accounts for Caracal Gold PLC, and the NSE Listing is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2022.
Following the NSE Listing, the Company plans to host a breakfast introduction for high-net-worth individuals and asset managers to Caracal Gold in Nairobi as well as a planned visit to tour the Kilimapesa mining site in Lolgorian, Trans Mara, Narok County, Kenya.
Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd. (AIM: CHGH) stated that it was happy to see the settlement of the dispute between Centerra Gold Inc. and the Kyrgyz government over the Canadian company’s Kumtor Mine.
AIM-traded Chaarat in February warned that the Kumtor mining situation had delayed the debt financing timeline for Tulkubash’s Tulkubash project. It was now the second half.
Greatland Gold PLC, (AIM: GGP) released the results of its 2021 drilling program at its Scallywag 100%-owned licence. Four prospects were visited by seven holes. The company also conducted a ground electromagnetic survey.
Shaun Day, Managing Director of Greatland Gold plc, commented: “We are pleased with the results from the 2021 drilling campaign on our 100% owned Scallywag licence . Gold mineralisation has been intercepted in four of the seven holes reported, which is highly encouraging.
“These results, together with identifying several new conductor targets from the ground EM programme and results from the 2020 work, increases our confidence regarding the prospectivity for intrusion related and other styles of mineralised systems at Scallywag.
Castillo Copper Ltd, (LSE: CCZ) identified several new targets with copper potential at Mkushi Project in Zambia. These new targets were identified in the interpretation of IP survey results on induced polarisation, which revealed multiple zones of high charging that coincided with copper soil anomalies.
Sovereign Metals Ltd (AIM: SVML) 1.8Bt MRE Confirmed as the Largest Rutile Deposit. Sovereign’s Managing Director Dr Julian Stephens commented: 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. 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.
With a grade of 1.01%, Kasiya now houses 18 million tonnes contained rutile. This is a tripling of the MRE.
Bushveld Minerals Ltd (AIM: BMN) reported ore reserves in magnetite of 262,000 tonnes vanadium (V2O5) at its Vametco subsidiary on December 31, a slight decline from end-2020.
Bushveld stated that mining depletion caused a decline in reserves. The combined resource was 182.7Mt, or 704,000 tonnes of vanadium. There were 147,000 tonnes in the probable category.
Rambler Metals and Mining plc (AIM: RMM) announced that further to the announcement of 1 April 2022, the Company has now completed the previously announced (17 March 2022) gold purchase and sale agreement with Elemental Royalties Corp. (TSX-V:ELE, OTCQX:ELEMF) in relation to production from its 100% owned Ming Mine, located in Newfoundland, Canada.
Castillo Copper Ltd, (LSE: CCZ) identified a number of copper targets that could be used for drilling testing at the Mkushi copper project in the prolific Zambian Copper Belt.
The explorer reviewed data taken from a geophysics report. This report interpreted the induced Polarisation (IP) survey results to determine if there were any copper soil anomalies at Mkushi.
Power Metal (AIM: POW) Tati Project Botswana – Drill Programme Results. Company’s Inaugural Drill Programme Confirms Target Geological Formations, Returns Near Surface Gold and Application for Adjacent Prospective Land Successfully Lodged.
Thor Mining PLC, (AIM: THR) announced that it has been granted county approval for exploration drilling at Rim Rock and Section 23 prospects in its Wedding Bell Uranium Project in southwest Colorado, USA.
Nicole Galloway Warland, managing director, stated that Thor has been working closely with San Miguel County to ensure a smooth permitting process. She was delighted with the positive result. We look forward to testing the shallow high-grade targets of uranium, particularly Section 23, which is still untested despite its favourable geological setting.
