Sovereign’s Natural Rutile to Significantly Reduce Pigment Industry Carbon Footprint
- Industry defining independent Life Cycle Assessment Study shows the potential for Sovereign’s natural rutile to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the titanium pigment industry
- Each tonne of natural rutile produced at Kasiya is expected to have a Global Warming Potential of only 0.1 tonnes CO2 eq., which equates to a 95% to 97% reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions (20 to 33 times less) compared to production of titania slag and synthetic rutile respectively – both of which are alternative titanium feedstocks produced by upgrading ilmenite via energy and carbon intensive processes
- Lowest Scope 3 emissions – Study further confirms producing titanium dioxide pigment in the EU from Sovereign’s natural rutile has the lowest global warming potential versus ilmenite-upgraded alternative feedstocks
- Paint produced from Sovereign’s natural rutile is estimated to have up to 35% lower carbon footprint than that produced from ilmenite-upgraded alternatives
Sovereign Metals Limited (ASX:SVM; AIM:SVML) (Sovereign or the Company) is pleased to announce the results of an expanded Life Cycle Assessment Study (LCA or Study) assessing the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of natural rutile produced at the Company’s Kasiya Rutile Project (Kasiya) in Malawi.
The Study concludes that Sovereign’s natural rutile product is expected to have substantially lower GWP (Scope 1, 2 and 3 scope emissions) when compared to other titanium feedstock alternatives produced by upgrading ilmenite (i.e., synthetic rutile and titania slag). Using natural rutile from Kasiya as titanium feedstock for the chloride pigment process would significantly reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions. Titanium feedstock is a key component of various industrial and consumer products. Therefore, utilising natural rutile such as from Kasiya, as direct use titanium feedstock could hold the solution to developing low-carbon footprint products including low carbon paints.
Sovereign’s Managing Director, Julian Stephens commented: “We knew from the previous work done by Minviro that natural rutile has a lower carbon footprint than its upgraded substitutes produced from ilmenite. The expanded study now highlights the significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions the titanium pigment industry could achieve by utilising natural rutile produced at Kasiya. This has direct economic benefits to end users in jurisdictions such as the EU, where industry pays for carbon dioxide emissions via the EU’s Emissions Trading System and the proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.”
Sovereign’s Chair of the ESG Committee, Nigel Jones commented: “Since its discovery, the Kasiya rutile project has been designed to help decarbonise the myriad of uses of titanium pigment in industrial and consumer products. This LCA is another step towards providing a solution to an industry targeting material reduction in its global carbon footprint while wholly encompassing values of sustainability.”
ENQUIRIES
Dr Julian Stephens (Perth)
Managing Director
+61(8) 9322 6322
Sam Cordin (Perth)
+61(8) 9322 6322
Sapan Ghai (London)
+44 207 478 3900
