Mining & Trade News

• Furtuna Metals unveils high grade drill results

ASX-listed Fortuna Metals has unveiled exciting exploration results from its Mkanda Rutile-Graphite Project in Mchinji, Central Malawi which is adjacent to Sovereign Metals owned, Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project hosting the world’s largest rutile deposit and second largest flake graphite deposit.

Fortuna says in a Press Statement announcing the results that  the first results of hand auger drilling confirms insitu rutile grades of up to 2.21% rutile and continuous drill intervals of 1.66% rutile over 10m and 1.32% rutile over 10m at its Mkanda Rutile Graphite Project.

The drilling results demonstrate that high grade rutile continues from surface to end of hole, with 4 drill holes ending in mineralisation above 1.0% rutile, and 9 of the 10 drill holes ending in mineralisation above 0.5% rutile. These 10 drill holes were selected for priority assay as a first pass to highlight the wide spread nature of the rutile mineralisation at Mkanda.

The Company has now completed 544 drill holes on a notional 800 and 400m spacing across 180km² of the Mkanda project. The purpose of the drill spacing is to define the highest grade rutile mineralisation ahead of further infill and step out drilling in 2026 whose results will be received throughout first quarter of 2026.

Fortuna CEO Mr Tom Langley comments: “We are looking forward to starting aircore and push tube drilling as soon as possible in early 2026. This will allow us to determine rutile mineralisation continuity to the saprock boundary at plus ~20m. This would be in line with the Kasiya deposit which averages ~20-30m depth to saprock and significantly increases the resource potential and overall project economics.”

“We continue to progress our exploration drilling at a rapid pace having now completed 544 drill holes at Mkanda and will continue to drill up until year’s end. We look forward to updating the market with a consistent flow of these drilling results throughout first quarter of 2026.”

Project Background

The Mkanda and Kampini Projects extend over an area of 658km² and are located immediately to the south of Sovereign Metals Limited’s world class Kasiya rutile project.

Drilling programs at Mkanda and Kampini are continuing with a total of 544 drill holes with an average depth of 8m having been completed at Mkanda. The drilling is designed as a first pass reconnaissance to investigate large areas across the project for potential rutile and graphite mineralisation. The hand auger drilling to date is averaging 8m with drillholes terminated as sample quality declines once in the water table. Drilling next dry season will use an aircore drill rig from approximately April/May 2026 to infill the highest-grade areas as defined by the hand auger results. The use of aircore drilling is critical to be able to drill past the perched water table and deeper down to the saprock boundary. The saprock boundary has been defined at Kasiya to be about 20 – 30m depth. The Aircore drilling will be key to demonstrating the resource potential at these greater depths and vastly improve the project economics.

The second phase of drilling currently underway at Mkanda consists of a dual strategy of further wide spaced reconnaissance drilling on an 800m grid and infill drilling on a tighter 400m spacing based on visual results and geological logging.

A 400m by 400m drill spacing is expected to meet the required drill density for inferred resource estimation, with Sovereign Metals using a 400m by 400m drill spacing for their inferred resource at Kasiya.

Fortuna’s projects cover the majority of the 70km strike extent of the same Lilongwe Plain weathered gneiss that hosts the rutile and graphite at Kasiya.

Graphite analysis is being undertaken in parallel as part of the dual mineral commodity focus given the coarse flake graphite known to occur in the region.

The Company is setting up a low cost in-country laboratory for the initial steps of preparing the sample for heavy mineral separation (HMS).

Natural rutile is the highest quality and best source of titanium feedstock for manufacturing titanium metals and TiO2 pigment. Traditional deposits are becoming exhausted with legacy producers in decline, with an anticipated tight supply and industrial demand growth expected to drive strong future prices.

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