Sovereign Metals Ltd (ASX:SVM) (FRA:SVM) managing director Dr Julian Stephens has demonstrated his faith in the company’s rutile and graphite strategy by the exercise of unlisted options.
On June 18 Stephens exercised 2 million 10-cent options and in doing so has increased the number of securities held in an indirect interest to 13.3 million.
Kasiya maiden resource estimate
The company recently established a maiden rutile mineral resource estimate for the Kasiya prospect in Malawi of 644 million tonnes at 1.01% rutile, including a high-grade component of 137 million tonnes at 1.41% rutile.
This major technical milestone makes Kasiya one of the world's largest rutile deposits.
A scoping study is underway to unlock this large-scale natural rutile project with a focus on ESG and sustainability.
Substantial additional resource growth is expected with the maiden estimate covering 49 square kilometres or just 43% of the total 114 square kilometres drill-defined rutile-mineralised footprint.
"A remarkable result"
Stephens said at the time: “It is a remarkable result to achieve the maiden JORC mineral resource estimate of this scale, grade and global significance in under 18 months since discovery.
"We believe this maiden resource is just the beginning and expect to upgrade and expand the resource over the coming quarters.
"The company is surging forward with the Kasiya Scoping Study which will target a large-scale natural rutile operation to help address the supply deficit and reduce the titanium industry’s environmental footprint.”
The rutile market is in supply deficit with prices rising steadily over the last 12 months.
This is due to increased demand coupled with existing global rutile reserves being in overall decline and limited additional supply forecast to come online in the near to medium term.