Kasiya Rutile Mine rolls out test works

Sovereign Metals Limited has rolled out bulk sampling to extract 100 tonnes of ore at Kasiya Rutile Mine in Lilongwe.

The sample will be used to produce over 1 000 kilogrammes (kg) of flake graphite and natural rutile products that can be used in car and industrial batteries.

The mining firm said in a statement that the bulk sample will be processed at the company’s laboratory in Lilongwe.

Reads the statement in part: “This will be achieved with the newly installed Kwatani 30-inch single and double-deck vibrating separators for sizing and de-sliming. Final processing will then be completed at commercial metallurgical laboratories in Canada and Australia.”

It said the 1 000kg of flake graphite product will be used for downstream test-work and initial product qualification targeting the battery anode sector.

The development comes at a time China is reducing exports of natural graphite, a material that is used in electric car batteries, fuel cells and nuclear reactors, due to Beijing’s “security concerns” concerns.

China currently produces 61 percent of all flake graphite used to produce lithium-ion battery anodes and accounts for 93 percent of all graphite anode production globally.

During a recent mining conference in Tanzania, Minister of Mining Monica Chang’anamuno hailed Kasiya Rutile Mine as one of the mining projects that will help develop the country. Soverign Metals projected that the mine, once fully operational, will generate about $16 billion (about K18 trillion) in revenue for an initial life of mine of 25 years.