Mining & Trade News

By Wahard Betha

ASX-listed Sovereign Metals has announced the completion of an infill drilling program at its Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project in Lilongwe to support ongoing technical studies.

In a press statement, the Company says aircore drilling which was supported by hand auger, push tube and diamond core drilling, has now been completed in the southern part of Kasiya focused on the designated pits proposed to provide ore feed in the first eight years of the Project’s production schedule.

Sovereign’s MD and CEO Frank Eagar comments: “Completing the infill drilling program on schedule will assist us in upgrading our Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE)and will feed into our future technical studies as part of ongoing pre-development activities at the Kasiya Project being overseen by the Sovereign-Rio Tinto Technical Committee.”

“The ore Reserves in these areas are expected to convert from the Probable to Proven category with an upgrade of the current MRE from Indicated to the Measured category under the JORC (2012) Code.”

Eagar also explained that the Company has assigned offsite laboratories in South Africa and Australia to assay all samples for rutile and graphite whereby results and subsequent resource upgrade are expected in early 2025.

Eagar says an offset 200x200 metre program was designed resulting in an average drill spacing of 142 metres.

He explains: “The offset spacing had the advantage of allowing analysis of geology and grade continuity in both orthogonal and diagonal directions.”

“The drilling program consisted of: 1. 281 aircore holes drilled over 5,607m, with an average depth of 20 metres, 2. 309 hand auger holes drilled over 1,280m with an average depth of 4 metres 3. 30 push tube and diamond core holes drilled over 663m, providing samples for verification twinning and geotechnical sampling with an average depth of 22 metres.”

“The current MRE identifies broad and continuous high-grade rutile and graphite zones, extending over a vast area of more than 201 km²,” he said.

Rutile mineralisation is concentrated in laterally extensive, near-surface, flat “blanket” deposits in areas where the weathering profile remains intact and largely uneroded.

Graphite is largely depleted near the surface, with grades generally improving at depths greater than 4 metres, down to the base of the saprolite zone, which averages around 22 metres.

Recently, Kasiya was proven to be the world’s largest rutile deposit and second-largest flake graphite deposit, with over 66% of the current MRE in the Indicated category.

By Marcel Chimwala

ASX-listed DY6 Metals has announced exciting results for its exploration work for rare earths and phosphate at Tundulu in Malawi’s southern district of Phalombe.

DY6 Chairman Daniel Smith says in a Press Statement that a total of 63 metallurgical samples were collected from 37 sample locations along high-grade historic trench (TUTR10) at Tundulu.

Smith explains that sampling results returned up to a high of 3.35% Total Rare Earth Ore (TREO) and 27.5% Phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5) over the sampled 83m length of trench TUTR10.

He says: “An exciting component of the sampling results is the average HREO, being 13% of the TREO basket.”

“Undetectable to very low levels of deleterious elements including mercury, lead and cadmium in the phosphorus (P) rich rocks confirms the exceptional grade quality of the phosphate at Tundulu; and the sampling is representative of the mineralised Bastnaesite and Apatite carbonatite rock types exposed within the trench.”

Smith reports that selected samples are being collected to form a 150kg composite to be sent for metallurgical analysis while five bioavailability composite samples were also taken across various historical trenches at Tundulu, targeting phosphate-rich rocks, to determine the solubility of phosphate in the samples and understand its potential for direct fertilization.

He says the majority of samples showed excellent P solubility (using 2% citric acid) of over 40%, with one returning solubility of 81%. This is above the industry threshold of 9.4% P2O5 solubility using Citric Acid as the reagent in the acid leach process.

DY6 also collected nine samples representing predominant lithologies at Tundulu which will also be sent to RSC Australia.

Tundulu is formed of several hills in a ring around a central vent called Nathace Hill where the majority of the historic surface sampling and drilling was undertaken.

The predominant geology at Nathace Hill is REE apatite hosting carbonatites and feldspathic breccia and comprises a large inner agglomerate vent.

Mineral rich carbonatite also occurs at Tundulu Hill east of Nathace and Makhanga Hill west of Nathace and is previously unexplored and prospective for REEs and niobium mineralisation.

REE mineralisation remains open towards southern and western directions of Nathace Hill and potentially extends beyond the boundaries of the previously established mineralised area over Tundulu Hill. Initial indications of mineralisation appear to be high in valuable MREEs and low measurable radioactive uranium (U) and thorium (Th). This compares favourably to Lynas Rare Earths’ Mount Weld Central Lanthanide Deposit where Th and U concentrations in the ore are approximately 660 ppm and 25 ppm respectively.

The Tundulu metallurgical test work will aim to evaluate historical studies undertaken at Tundulu and assess the findings from a 2017 metallurgical report, completed by the previous operators of the licence. The test work will initially focus on validating the beneficiation results achieved by the previous laboratory.

“Conducting test work at this early stage enables the Company to ascertain the preliminary viability of producing two product streams: namely a REE commercially saleable concentrate and a mixed phosphate concentrate containing rare earths,” says Smith.

Ngala Hill Platinum Group Elements, Nickel and Copper Project

Meanwhile, samples taken from the Company’s recent reconnaissance soil and rock chip program at the Ngala Hill Platinum Group Elements, Copper and Nickel Project have been submitted to SGS South Africa for analysis, with results expected soon.

By Tawonga Nyirenda Mayuni

MD for Aanya Mining Company Frank Mwenifumbo has revealed that his Indian partner has pulled out of their coal mining venture in Rumphi out of frustration due to delays by the Ministry of Mining to grant a mining license.

Aanya incorporated the investor in a joint venture partnership three years ago but despite the company being granted the license in August this year, the investor had already lost interest.

“Despite the license being approved by the licensing committee some time back, it has only been released at a time the investor had lost interest and shifted his interests to Zambia,” Mwenifumbo said.

He explained that it took five years of waiting to get the license, which was frustrating the foreign investor.

He said: “After a gruesome process, we are happy that we finally have a mining license, hence we can now start our activities on the ground.”

“The Department of Mines (DOM) should change and operate with a kind of pragmatism especially to us Malawians. Further, the DOM should not rush to revoke a license because of lack of finances to kickstart operations. There is no bank in Malawi that finances mining ventures, hence we need strategic partners and the support of the government.”

Mwenifumbo, however, commended the current Minister of Mining Monica Chang’anamuno for her commitment to encourage indigenous Malawians to invest in big mining ventures.

He was, however, quick to point out that the Minister’s commitment to promote locals to invest in mining is contrary to the behavior of DOM employees who are always on the neck of local mining companies that are not mining despite being given licenses.

He said: “The DOM keeps on asking mining companies why they are not mining despite having a license. Mining is not a simple thing as you have to look for investments and capitalize the activity and this is not a small process.”

By Wahard Betha

Forty members of youth organizations operating across the country had an opportunity to acquire knowledge in natural resource governance thanks to the training workshop that was organized by the Norwegian Church Aid and Dan Church Aid (NCA/DCA) Joint Country Programme (JCP) in partnership with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) operating in Malawi’s extractives sector.

The two-day boot camp which took place in Balaka district as one of the major mining hotspot districts was part of the Fighting Inequalities Strengthen Civil Society Program being backed by the NCA/DCA JCP.

Coordinator for Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN) Kennedy Rashid told Mining & Trade Review that the training was organized upon realizing the gaps in youth involvement in mining.

Rashid said the training was to ensure youth from different mining hotspots districts were fed with information that will help them govern their respective organizations in their communities for better future of the sector.

He said: “This training was developed out of an assessment that was made in the mining sector where we identified a gap in youth participation in mining activities.”

“We felt like it is good to train some youth from those districts considered mining hotspots so that they are imparted with basic knowledge of mining to bridge that gap.”

“We trained them today to empower them so that they are able to engage authorities to ensure that decisions they make now do not negatively affect them in future. We want to mitigate negative impacts of mining activities taking place now in the future.”

The two-day boot camp introduced the youths to some of the policies, rules, and regulations currently being implemented in the mining sector.

NCA/DCA Country Coordinator for the joint Fighting Inequality Program Mwai Sandram expressed excitement saying with the training, they have accomplished the first objective of their program.

Sandram said they engaged the youth understanding that they are the majority of the population hence the future of the mining sector lies in their hands.

He said: “We are very impressed as joint country program because we have met the first part of the objective which is sharing knowledge with the youth.”

“Within the 2-days we have gone through the Mines and Minerals Act, Mines and Minerals Regulations, mining value chain and corruption in mining sector. These topics are very important in the participation of the youth in mining.”

“It is very significant to consider the youth because the youth constitutes the most in the population of the country, they are the most active people and the future belongs to them.”

“We need to involve them because what happens now will affect them in future.”  

Sandram said most of the participants were invited from active groups which is advantage for them to utilize the opportunity in resource mobilization.

He explained that what is needed is for the youth to come up with a plan on how they contribute positively to their communities and fellow youth.

Sandram said: Our program is still continuing and we will support them. What we can encourage them is to generate their own initiatives where we can be coming in here and there to help them in resource mobilization drive.”

“They need to have plans on how they are going to engage their communities and fellow youth.”

The boot camp also included a site visit to a mining site at Nfulanjovu area in the district where the participants appreciated the challenges in mining and what can happen if laws are not followed.

On the third day of the training, the delegates were given a chance to engage with the Ministry of Mining, mining companies and the Balaka District Council.  

Other CSOs who partnered the JCA in the program included: The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP); and the Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN).

There are many mining activities taking place in Balaka with artisanal and small scale miners involved in the extraction of gemstones, gold and limestone while mining companies are pursuing deposits of rare earths and other minerals.

By Modester Mwalija

The spread of Tuberculosis (TB) is on the rise among women miners in Southern Africa, creating a health crisis in the industry. With poor working conditions and limited access to healthcare, many women in the mining industry are at high risk of contracting the disease.

This issue was highlighted at the regional meeting of Southern African Development Community (SADC) Women in Mining Association, held from September 4th -7th 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Delegates from various SADC countries gathered to review the progress made since the implementation of the Tuberculosis in the Mining Sector (TIMS) initiative in 2012.

Federation of Women and Youth in Mining (FWYM) Secretary Linda Vyachi Mphande who represented Malawi emphasized that tuberculosis remains a significant health threat to women miners, particularly those in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM).

 "Women miners face unique health challenges that are not always addressed in the broader mining health programs," she said.

One of the key concerns she raised was that many women work in poorly ventilated environments and are exposed to silica dust, a major cause of TB and silicosis. These working conditions, combined with a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), put women at a very high risk of contracting TB.

“Many women miners work in informal or unregulated sectors, meaning they lack access to health insurance or employment protections that could support them through illness,” said Mphande.

Mphande highlighted that women often have less access to healthcare services, particularly in remote mining areas. Even when services are available, social and economic barriers, including stigma, prevent many women from seeking timely treatment.

"There is a stigma around TB in mining communities, and women tend to face more discrimination when they seek treatment. This stigma, combined with gender bias in healthcare services, often leads to delayed diagnosis and poorer health outcomes for women compared to men," she explained.

Despite these challenges, Mphande said there are efforts within Malawi’s mining sector to address the issue of TB among women miners. Through TIMS, mobile health units have been deployed to rural mining areas to conduct screenings and offer treatment.

 "TIMS has been a game-changer for many miners, but there’s still a need for more gender-sensitive approaches to ensure women miners are not left out," Mphande said.

She also appreciated the role of local and international organizations such as the FWYM and World Health Organization (WHO), which has been actively promoting health and safety awareness in mining communities. These organizations work closely with the government and health agencies to run campaigns focused on the prevention of TB and silicosis.

“The National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF) supports ASMs financially, which improves the economic conditions of ASMs, particularly women. These miners are better positioned to access healthcare services and protective equipment that reduces the risk of TB,” Mphande said.

However, Mphande believes that more needs to be done. "We need to ensure that PPE is designed specifically for women and that health services in mining areas are more inclusive. The lack of gender-specific health programs is still a major gap."

She called for stronger regional cooperation within the SADC framework, stressing that TB in the mining sector is a cross-border issue. Many miners in Southern Africa, including those from Malawi, migrate to work in mines across the region, increasing the risk of spreading TB.

She said: "Regional cooperation is key because TB does not stop at borders. We need to work together to standardize health policies and improve cross-border healthcare services for miners."

As for the future, Mphande sees great potential in expanding initiatives like TIMS and involving more stakeholders to ensure sustainable health interventions.

"Linking SADC Women in Mining with more partners will ensure that our efforts last beyond these meetings," she said.

However, she emphasized that addressing the gender-specific challenges women miners face will require more than just policy changes as it will need a shift in how health and safety issues in the mining sector are approached.

 "We need to put women’s health at the center of these discussions if we want real progress," she said.

Mphande’s participation in the SADC meeting has shed light on the ongoing health crisis among women miners and the urgent need for more comprehensive, gender-sensitive interventions across the region. Her advocacy continues to push for better policies and more inclusive health solutions that prioritize the well-being of women in the mining industry.

Slope stability refers to the condition of inclined soil or rock slopes to withstand or undergo movement, Slope stability Analyses are generally aimed at understanding the causes of occurrence of slope failures, or other factors that can potentially trigger slope movements, resulting in a landslide, as well as at preventing the initiation of such movement, slowing it down or arresting it through mitigation measures.

The stability of a slope is essentially controlled by the ratio between the available shear strength and the acting shear stress which can be expressed in terms of a factor of safety.

Slope Monitoring techniques

There are various slope monitoring techniques ranging from simple visual inspection to complex GPS and radar scanning. All these techniques can be classified into conventional and modern-day techniques.

Conventional Techniques

Conventional or traditional monitoring techniques

These involve physical examination and mapping of tension cracks along the slope face. All mine personnel are involved in slope monitoring directly or indirectly. The initial stage in slope monitoring is a visual inspection, which is the foundation of any monitoring program. Mine workers search for any evident signs of deformation and then report them to management for a more thorough examination and monitoring. Routine inspections of active mine slope and dumps slopes is done by mine management.

Modern-Day Techniques

Ground-based radar devices and Global Positioning Systems

These are increasingly integrated into most large open-pit mines’ slope monitoring and management programs. Global Positioning System (GPS) is a navigation and positioning system that follows GPS satellites’ electro-magnetic signals. It measures the movements of slopes, landslides, and subsidence on a continuous-periodical basis. The amount of deformation and slope movements are calculated by comparing the starting and ending positions of the GPS stations. An an improvement to GPS, Differential GPS (DGPS) improves location precision in the range of operations of each system real-time information on slope stability and deformation rates. GPS is also being used as a control point for monitoring mine slope stability in conjunction with photogrammetry, total station networks, and remote sensing pictures. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) directs a laser beam at the area of monitoring, which provides a graphical/digital depiction of slope and their relative motions based on the journey time of the radiation. They produce virtual replicas of the slope in minutes, similar to photographic images emphasizing crucial regions. Modern LiDAR scanners can be placed on static and mobile surveying platforms and instantly give Digital Elevation Models (DEM) that can precisely identify the deformation zone’s relative magnitude, displacement rate, and position.

 Seismic Technique

Seismic technique has been used in open-cast mining to anticipate slope movements and failures. Micro-seismic events caused by tiny rock movements are collected by data recorders and relayed to the processing system. The events are then analysed to identify the zone of weakness, stress conditions, deformation mechanics, and deformation rate within the rock mass. Significant advancements in mine seismology information effectively reduce risks far before they occur.

Limitations of the Techniques

Selecting a proper monitoring system depends on several parameters, such as area coverage, mode of operation, cost, installation and maintenance concerns. Conventional methods are time-consuming and of low accuracy, and inclinometers, TDRs, extensometers, and LIDAR’s are not appropriate for real-time information and early failure prediction. slope monitoring radar has radically revolutionized the evaluation of geotechnical risk in surface mines.

Advancements

In the past years or so, radar has developed into a cutting-edge technology for monitoring pit wall movements in surface mining with real-time slope monitoring. The radar beam emitted by the antenna scans the slope faces vertically and horizontally. Movements along the slope are tracked both quickly and constantly, in addition to broad area coverage in all-weather conditions. In recent years, 3D imaging of the damaged surface has also been made available by radar monitoring. Radar can be either space-borne or ground-based depending on the application. Recently, Slope Stability Radar (SSR) advances have included broad areal coverage, remote operation from greater distances, and better spatial resolution. Radar systems pro-vide long-range monitoring, broad aerial coverage, and customized aerial coverage with sub-millimeter precision and accuracy. Techniques and recommendations for predicting the moment of failure or outlining the conditions of a predicted slope collapse offer in scientific literature. Getting an overview of the benefits and limitations of these different methods has become complex To simplify things, available works are classified on slope monitoring techniques based on the based on input and output data.

By Wahard Betha

Stakeholders in Malawi’s minerals sector have expressed concern over environmental degradation in small scale gold mining hotspots across the country where Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners (ASMs) abandon the mines without any rehabilitation after exhausting the mineral reserves.   

Coordinator for Chamber of Mines and Energy Grain Malunga said in an interview that the miners are the ones to be blame as they leave the land out of frustration and ignorance on the need for rehabilitation. 

Malunga said: “The miners are to blame. That is the price government pays when it fails to regulate the sector.”

“ASM gold mining is not as well paying as people think. Some leave the sites frustrated because they earn less and find no need to rehabilitate the sites.”

However, Coordinator for Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN) Kennedy Rashid in a separate interview blamed poor coordination between duty bearers including the District Councils, Ministry of Mining and Malawi Environmental Protection Authority (MEPA).

Rashid said the public expected the involvement of MEPA in monitoring such issues.

He said: “MEPA has not been effective when it comes to monitoring the mining cycle. The expectations have been that since MEPA is involved in the licensing and regulation by government, it would also empower district level environmental officers to inspect ASM activities.”

“But currently the government agencies at local government level where the mining activities are happening seem to not be well coordinated with the central government,” he said.

In his response to our questionnaire, Director General for Mines and Minerals Regulatory Authority Samuel Sakhuta said the Ministry is trying its best to ensure that the problem does not get uncontrollable as it is currently working in collaboration with MEPA and the miners to ensure that they move together in monitoring and supervision in major hotspots.

He said: “For instance, at Manondo where we issued a licence to a cooperative which was assisted by Judah Group, we noted that the environment was not in good shape as we found a big trench left by miners who had run away.”

“Because Judah expressed interest in taking over the mine, they hired an excavator and filled these trenches.”

“If we have financial resources, we want to fill all trenches starting from the gold mining hotspots.”

“Of course, we can blame the miners but we, as government, have to bear responsibility and enforce monitoring, supervision and sensitization so that this should not escalate again.”

Sakhuta also said Government instituted a ban on any illegal mining activity to ensure that miners operate with the environmental conservation knowledge in mind.

He said: “We did that because we want them to be acquiring licenses which will also include some measures on how they can conserve the environment.”

“Through the licensing, we will also be able to trace them when we are conducting monitoring or supervision activities,” he said.

ASMs are major suppliers of gold to Export Development Fund (EDF), a subsidiary of Reserve Bank of Malawi, which was entrusted to be buying gold on behalf of Malawi Government.

ASMs continue to discover a number of small scale gold mining sites across the country, and the major ones are located in Machinga, Kasungu, Balaka, Chiradzulu, Nkhotakota and Nkhatabay.

Despite the presence of alluvial gold across Malawi, the Ministry of Mining is yet to discover source rocks as it has been failing to conduct geological exploration to discover the reef gold deposits due to budgetary constraints.

Malawian-owned Mwalawanga Mining Company, the tenement holder for Chimwadzulu corundum mining site in Ntcheu, says it is failing to kickstart mining operations at the site due to continued deterioration of the security situation at the site caused by uncontrolled illegal mining activities.

In a Press Release, the Company explains that illegal mining activities have been going on at the site since November 2017 when it was granted the licence to operate the mine for an initial period of 10 years, and the situation has to date reached unbearable levels to be contained by the company’s security personnel alone.

The Press Release reads: “If you notice what is happening on the ground, you will appreciate that the illegal mining activity which even the government’s first security apparatus, sent previously to the mine, had failed to contain, has created a volatile and unconducive environment for investment to take place on the mine.”

“These illegal miners who are mostly from the surrounding communities and helped by other village headmen, have continuously undermined the rights of the licence holder over the mine as provided under the Mines and Minerals Act 2023 and they continue to attack our mine security personnel if they attempt to stop them.”

“Admittedly, this illegal mining operation has continued to lead to loss of revenues to the government and social benefits to the communities, that would have been realised at the mine, through unauthorised sale of illegally mined gemstone products on a daily basis as we wait to develop the mine after approval of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) Report in April 2024.”

In November 2017, people from the surrounding area started invading the mine on pretext that the licence of the previous tenement holder Nyala Mines had expired hence they no longer had the mining rights over the mine.

The statement explains that since acquiring the licence, Mwalawanga has had many failed attempts to end this problem of illegal mining at the site. In December 2017, the Company in consultation with the Department of Mines sought the services of the Malawi Police Service to restore order at the mine site for a period of a month. Mwalawanga was responsible for meeting the cost of the security officials who included Mines Department Officers staying at the mine site for a month. Later that month in December 2017, the Ministry through the Department of Mines in collaboration with Ntcheu District Council and traditional leaders conducted a sensitization meeting with the local communities to introduce the new company, Mwalawanga Mining Company.

Delays by previous miner to vacate tenement area

Mwalawanga also says it has been failing to kickstart operations at the site due to delays by the previous license holder to vacate the premises. The Ministry of Mining granted Mwalawanga the mining licence in November 2017 “subject to conducting a full Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) prior to commencement of mining operation and adhering to the new terms of the agreements of the licence.”

However, previous holders of the licence, Nyala Mines, dragged government to court contesting rejection to renew their licence while they still occupied the mine premises.

The matter was discharged in favour of the Government on February 13, 2018 at the Blantyre High Court.

“Nyala delayed vacating the mine site following the court case and their refusal to vacate the site in time meant that Mwalawanga could not effectively move in to commence any activity or mine restoration,” reads the Statement.

Following protracted arguments with government warning that it will use force to evict the Company, Nyala finally vacated the mine site towards the end of November 2021 having removed all their plant and machinery and demolished most mine infrastructure.

Activities to start production

Mwalawanga states that despite the impediments emanating from invasion by illegal miners and Government legal wrangling with Nyala, the Company has been conducting activities in preparation to start mining.

For example, in the late 2019, Mwalawanga engaged a South African Mineral Evaluator, MTP Resources, to conduct assessment of corundum and associated minerals (sapphires and ruby) on Chimwadzulu Mine.

In January 2020, the Company submitted a Project Brief to the then Department of Environmental Affairs. This was followed by the Terms of Reference (TORs) granted by the Environmental Affairs Department giving a go ahead for the ESIA activity to commence.

The statement reads: “This meant that by early 2020, whilst the company had embarked on an initial ESIA preparations, the country and the mining sector was heavily hit by the Covid-19 pandemic up to mid-2022. This made the situation difficult to operate as most mining companies had suspended operations. The company later lost one of its founding Directors Mr Ishmael Wadi.”

After the Covid-19 Pandemic effects had eased; in February 2022, the company obtained an introductory support letter from the Commissioner for Mines and Minerals for the ESIA consultant, Chiwandama Geo-Consultant, who was engaged by Mwalawanga to conduct the ESIA in consultation with various stakeholders in Ntcheu District.

By September 29, 2023, the company had responded to ESIA comments and submitted the final document to Malawi Environmental Protection Agency for consideration.

The company already imported a washing plant and other required machinery and equipment which were cleared by the Malawi Revenue Authority for the Chimwadzulu Mine which cannot at this time be brought to the site due to security deterioration through the presence of over 1,000 illegal miners at the site who have outnumbered security personnel.

 The statement reads: “We believe that the situation was even made worse by the Government through Export Development Fund of the Reserve Bank of Malawi through visitation to the Chimwadzulu Mine area where it encouraged the illegal miners to priotise selling the stones to EDF other than foreigner buyers. This statement at the site escalated the illegal activities at the mine as the illegal miners were now offered a ready market for the illegal stones.”

“The company had on several occasions written the relevant government Institutions that include, Ntcheu District Council, Police Officer-In-Charge, and Ministry of Mining for support on the current security deterioration at the mine site.”

The Malawi Environment Protection Authority approved the ESIA for the mine on March 27, 2024.

Following the approval, Mwalawanga engaged an interested Mozambican potential Partner owing to their experience in the gemstone industry across the world on April 18. 2024 to help in the mine assessment and come up with other modalities of mining operation having had the entire surface area scrapped off by illegal miners.

The company in corroboration with the Mozambican Potential partners has been assessing the viability of doing an underground assessment of the source rock geological formations so as to avoid surface mining that has been disturbed and messed by illegal miners.

The Statement reads: “However, due to the continued security situation, our counterpart from Mozambique could not continue to work under a hostile environment with illegal miners surrounding the area of assessment and operation, which was seen as volatile atmosphere to work in and invest and had since left by September 30, 2024. You will even notice that all access roads on the mine have been destroyed by way of digging by illegal miners.”

“Even the Ministry of Mining could not help the company despite several requests to deploy additional security by MDF personnel on site for a specific period since they last publicized the much-touted MOU with Ministry of Defence to protect strategic minerals across the country.”

With no solution from the Ministry of Mining coming forth, the company had a recent stakeholder meeting which was held at the mine premises on September 24, 2024 comprising the Ministry of Homeland Officials from Lilongwe, Officials from the Malawi Police Headquarters in Lilongwe, Ntcheu District Council, Ntcheu Police Station and all surrounding Community Leaders.

It was at this meeting that a resolution has been made to establish a Police Unit at the mine using the mine infrastructure that will only require some renovations and also have the traditional leaders help vacate the community members from the mine site to allow the company bring in machinery and revamp the mine.

The statement reads: “Mwalawanga strongly believes that with a good conducive environment that the government has promised to create for all investors, if managed well, Chimwadzulu corundum is one of the mining products that have the potential to change the economic status of the country and surrounding communities, hence the need to jealously safeguard the mineral resource from this mine is very crucial.”

“It is for this reason that the Company disputes the twisted facts and sentiments from some misinformed officials and other local leaders that Mwalawanga has delayed the operation and can contain the situation at the mine alone.”

“We look forward to support from all stakeholders to develop this mine soonest for the benefits of the country.”

By Modester Mwalija

AXS-listed Sovereign Metals, which is prospecting for rutile and graphite in Kasiya area in Lilongwe has announced that it has successfully installed and commissioned an industrial-scale spiral concentrator plant at its laboratory and testing facility in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Sovereign MD Frank Eagar announces this in a statement saying the plant enables Sovereign to process material from the test pit mined as part of the Pilot Mining and Land Rehabilitation (Pilot Phase) at the Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project.

Eagar says: “The new infrastructure allows Sovereign to deliver large scale graphite pre-concentrate for qualification by its future potential customers.”

“With a simple and conventional process flowsheet, Kasiya ore is processed at a throughput rate of up to 3 tonnes per hour for continuous sample preparation. Our PFS optimisation continues to advance as planned with oversight from the Sovereign-Rio Tinto Technical Committee.”

He explains that the spiral plant will prepare a graphite gravity concentrate from the Pilot Phase test pit’s run of mine at a bulk scale. The concentrate will then be sent to specialized laboratories for flotation, purification, spheronisation and coating testwork for the battery anode segment in line with Sovereign’s strategy to commercialize Kasiya’s graphite by-product.

This follows the Company’s recent announcement that downstream test work performed by a leading independent consultancy had demonstrated that Coated Spherical Purified Graphite (CSPG) produced from Kasiya natural flake graphite has performance characteristics comparable to leading Chinese natural graphite anode materials manufacturers.

The Kasiya process flowsheet is separated into distinct simple processing areas, namely Wet Concentrator Plant (WCP) and Mineral Separation Plant (MSP)

The WCP will receive mined material pre-screened at 2mm to remove oversize. Simple gravity separation through spirals will produce a Heavy Mineral Concentrate (HMC) and a separate gravity tailings stream enriched in graphite.

At the MSP, the HMC will initially undergo electrostatic separation through a CoronaStat Electric Separator to separate heavy minerals into electrically conductive minerals including rutile, and non-conductive minerals. Magnetic separation will then isolate rutile, which is non-magnetic, from other conductive minerals.

Eagar explains that the graphite tailings stream collected from the gravity spirals will be processed through froth flotation, including polishing and stirred media mills, producing a coarse-flake graphite concentrate and tailings.

“Tailings storage and management will be further refined as part of the ongoing Kasiya PFS Optimisation Study,” states Eagar.

Meanwhile, the Company has also announced that its Kasiya graphite concentrate is confirmed to be an excellent feedstock for natural graphite anode materials suitable for battery production.

Eager says that CSPG anode material produced from Kasiya graphite concentrate has performance characteristics comparable to the highest quality natural graphite battery material produced by dominant Chinese anode manufacturers.

“Electrochemical testing achieved very high first cycle efficiencies ranging from 94.2% to 95.8%, which supports long battery life. Additionally, there was excellent initial discharge capacities exceeding 360mAh/g, meeting the highest standards for natural graphite anode materials. The material also exhibited a very low specific area (BET) of ≤2.0m2/g minimizing lithium loss during the first battery charging cycle along with excellent tap densities of 1.11 to 1.18g/cm3 which allows for higher electrical storage,” says Eagar

He attributes the unique anode material results to the unique geological setting of the highly weathered Kasiya orebody compared to fresh rock hosted graphite deposits, including high purity of the natural flake, near perfect crystallinity, and very low levels of Sulphur and other impurities.

Combining its results as one of the largest graphite resources globally, industry low operating costs and lowest global warming potential, Kasiya is presenting significant advantages over its graphite peers, positioning it with highest potential to become a dominant source of graphite supply ex-China.