Mining & Trade News

ASX- listed Fortuna Metals has announced a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for its Mkanda Rutile-Graphite Project in Mchinji, confirming the deposit as one of the world’s largest natural rutile discoveries and strengthening Malawi’s position as an emerging hub for critical minerals.

Malawi has emerged as one of the world’s most important jurisdictions for natural rutile and coarse flake graphite discoveries, demonstrating the potential for very large-scale, near-surface rutile graphite systems hosted in weathered basement-derived material.

Fortuna reports an inferred mineral resource of 298 million tonnes grading 0.87 percent rutile and 1.19 percent total graphite carbon at a 0.7 percent rutile cut-off grade. The estimate contains approximately 159 million tonnes at 0.98% rutile and 1.11% TGC, making Mkanda one of the world’s top six contained rutile deposits.

Fortuna CEO, Tom Langley, comments “I am extremely pleased to deliver our maiden Inferred Mineral Resource estimate at Mkanda of 2.6 million tonnes of contained rutile at a high grade of 0.87%, placing Mkanda in the top six rutile deposits globally.”

“When you combine today’s MRE with the recent high purity 96.6% Titanium dioxide rutile product, the large high grade graphite resource and potential additional streams of zircon and monazite, it is clear Mkanda is evolving into a strategic critical mineral project of significance.”

 “It is encouraging to have received positive results of up to 10m @ 1.43% rutile from the central Kahuna prospect, now emerging as a multi-kilometer high grade rutile anomaly. These results will be included in the next updated MRE.”

“We continue to progress the project at pace with multiple work streams running in parallel, including early stage conceptual mining and pilot plant studies, graphite flotation test work and air core drilling underway.”

“The Company sees clear potential to grow the resource base, define higher-grade zones and advance Mkanda as a low-capital-intensity, scalable rutile-graphite development opportunity for Malawi with the potential for high value co-products of zircon and monazite.”

Natural rutile is one of the world’s highest grade titanium feedstocks and is used in the production of titanium pigments, aerospace components, medical equipment, welding electrodes and increasingly in the next generation robotics, where lightweight, high strength materials are essential. Rutile is currently selling for approximately US$1,100-1,300 per tonne, underscoring its strategic value.

Titanium alloys allow complex, lightweight construction techniques that reduce energy consumption while maintaining operational effectiveness. Advances in robotics driven by these materials also contribute significantly to industrial automation, including precision tasks like medical equipment handling and high-tech manufacturing.

As Fortuna Metals continues drilling and technical studies at Mkanda, the project has the potential to become a major source of rutile and graphite while strengthening Malawi’s position as an emerging global supplier of critical minerals. With further resource expansion and feasibility work planned, the company says the next phase of exploration is expected to determine the project’s full development potential.

Mkanda is located on the Lilongwe Plain in central Malawi. The area is underlain by rocks of the Basement Complex, including paragneisses and orthogneisses associated with the Mozambique Belt.

Fortuna’s Mkanda tenure covers approximately 658km² across the Lilongwe Plain, with approximately 70km strike extent of the same Lilongwe Plain weathered gneiss that hosts the rutile and graphite at Kasiya. The project is located 30km west of the capital city Lilongwe. The landscape is generally flat to gently undulating.

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