Malawi : Sovereign unveils the mystery around the graphite of Malingunde

Sovereign Metals Ltd dispelled the veil of mystery around the graphite of Malingunde project, the world’s largest saprolite-hosted graphite deposit, just 15km South-west of the capital Lilongwe.

On 30 August, the ASX listed company reported results of the latest flotation test-work on saprolite from the project. It produced concentrates with approximately 98% total graphitic carbon (TGC) across all size fractions. This showed the potential of Malingunde to provide the traditional market with a coarser flake distribution but slightly lower grade concentrates suited to the traditional industrial markets such as refractories and foundries. Besides, the project is likely to produce a slightly finer flake distribution with exceptionally high concentrate purity that fits for lithium-ion batteries and other high-end applications in emerging markets.

Dr Julian Stephens, Managing Director, commented : “world-class concentrate purity results” that further support the strategy of the company targeting initial sales into key traditional industrial graphite markets, with future entry into the emerging Lithium-ion battery sector. “Very low costs, product optionality and development in a stable jurisdiction highlights the enormous potential of the Malingunde graphite project.”, he added. It is worth recalling scoping study demonstrates the potential of Malingunde to support an average operating cost of 301 $ per tonne concentrate FOB Nacala Port, a total development capex of 29 million $ with annual production of 44,000 tonnes over an initial 17 year period and about 2 year pay-back period.

In Malawi, Sovereign Metals Ltd controls a very large 3,788km2 tenement package with the majority being prospective for saprolite-hosted flake graphite potential. For now, the company reported exploration has only “scratched the surface” of this potential. Also, current datasets suggest that there is potentially several hundred kilometres of cumulative strike length of saprolite-hosted graphite mineralisation in the area.