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“ Recently the Government passed a new mining act and to us that’s an
indication of how serious they are on mining.
The country boasts a raft of modern in-
frastructure, including sealed roads and
the possibility of grid power in the com-
ing years. Fresh water sources are also
readily available. Sovereign’s ground
package wraps around the north, south
and western borders of Lilongwe.
An established rail network that comes
within 20km of Sovereign’s tenure ulti-
mately connects to the Nacala deep wa-
ter port over the border in Mozambique.
“There’s plenty of capacity on that rail
line and we have a MoU at the moment Hon Bintony Kutsaira
with the rail concession there for trans-
port of our commodities out to the port,”
Stephens said. “It was signed during the Hon Bintony Kutsaira – Malawi’s Minister of Natural
graphite days and we’re in the process of Resources, Energy and Mining – reaffirmed his country’s
converting that to a rutile MoU and then commitment to developing more mines over the next
full agreement.
“So, we think 2020 will be a company- decade during a panel session at Mining Indaba.
defining year for Sovereign. We have a
lot of work going on and there’s a lot of Despite boasting some of the best infrastructure in southern
great work going on in Malawi, generally.” Africa, Malawi is yet to be recognised by the broader investment
– Michael Washbourne community as an attractive mining jurisdiction. To date, the
Kayelekera mine (currently on care-and-maintenance due to low
uranium prices) is the only commercial operation to have been
developed in country.
Speaking during the conference’s dedicated battery metals
day, Kutsaira said his door was open to any investor interested in
providing funding support to developing Malawi’s mineral potential.
“The Government is ready to provide any type of assistance as
long as the investors are committed to working with us to develop
our mining sector,” he said.
“We want to have more mines producing more of these minerals
we have, including rare earths, graphite, nickel and cobalt.”
Mkango Resources Ltd president Alexander Lemon reiterated
how supportive the Malawian Government had been during the
company’s decade-long presence in the country.
Listed on both the LSE and TSX-V, Mkango is advancing the
Sovereign has incorporated a makeshift Songwe Hill rare earths project in Malawi’s south-east and is fully
laboratory at its Lilongwe base, including funded through to completion of a BFS. The company is also
a shaking table and other mineral confident it can tap into the country’s available infrastructure and
separation processes
produce a high-value product over a long mine life.
“Malawi is a fantastic jurisdiction,” Lemon said. “It’s known as
the warm heart of Africa, it’s a stable country and has many major
infrastructure developments taking place as we speak.
“It’s an emerging mining destination and it’s certainly a premier
African rare earths mineral province within the Chilwa Alkaline area.
Infrastructure investment is also unlocking the mineral potential of
the country.”
Mkango’s Malawian subsidiary owns 51% of Songwe Hill, with the
remaining interest held by Singapore-based investment firm Talaxis.
Talaxis can increase its stake to 75% by arranging project
finance. Mkango is then free-carried at 25% interest through to first
production.
aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT MaRCH 2020 Page 61
