Sovereign Metals Ltd (ASX:SVM, AIM:SVML) has encountered the highest rutile grades to date in assay results from a 2021 drilling program at the flagship Kasiya-Nsaru Project in Malawi, increasing the drill-defined mineralised footprint by 28% to 165 square kilometres.
Sovereign has determined that the Kasiya and Nsaru deposits are a single, very large, coherent body of near-surface rutile and graphite mineralisation.
The new set of drilling results returned the highest grade of rutile yet discovered at the project from Nsaru and added new extensions to the east of Kasiya with highlights of:
- 11 metres at 1.34% rutile, including 2 metres at 3.00%;
- 8 metres at 1.36%, including 2 metres at 2.66%;
- 12 metres at 1.46%, including 4 metres at 2.42%
- 12 metres at 1.27%, including 3 metres at 2.16%;
- 7 metres at 1.84%, including 4 metres at 2.71%; and
- 13 metres at 1.48%, including 5 metres at 2.23%.
These new extensions coupled with new blocks of high-grade mineralisation are expected to add substantially to an upcoming mineral resource estimate update, and an updated scoping study is underway, focused on incorporating the growing resource base.
World's “single largest rutile deposit”
“The results of the latest drilling program have surpassed all of our expectations,” Sovereign Metals managing director Dr Julian Stephens said.
“Not only did we encounter the highest rutile grades to date, but the coalescing of the Kasiya and Nsaru deposits supports our belief that we have the single largest rutile deposit in the world on our hands.
“We are looking forward to announcing the updated mineral resource estimate in the coming weeks.”
Sovereign says these results confirm the strategic and global significance of Kasiya as the largest undeveloped natural rutile project in the world, and first major rutile discovery in half a century.
The main uses for rutile include the manufacturing of ceramics, pigments and titanium metal. Finely powdered rutile can be used in paints, plastics, paper, foods and other applications that call for a bright white colour.