Wedoany.com Report-Mar 28, Sovereign Metals has completed the placement of new shares to raise A$40m ($25.2m) to fund its Kasiya Rutile-Graphite project in Malawi, East Africa.
The funding will support development activities at the Kasiya project, including permitting, studies, working capital and corporate needs.
The placement secured firm commitments from both new and existing shareholders including global institutional investors.
Sovereign Metals issued 47.05 million new fully paid ordinary shares at A$0.85 each.
Proceeds from the placement will support development activities at the Kasiya site, including permitting, studies, working capital and corporate needs.
The placement is scheduled to settle on 1 April 2025, with the new shares due to be issued around 2 April 2025, per ASX Listing Rule 7.1.
Petra Capital served as the sole lead manager and sole bookrunner for the placement.
The Kasiya project’s graphite has been identified as having the key characteristics for use in expandable and expanded applications such as fire retardants and gaskets.
Testing by ProGraphite and Dorfner Anzaplan laboratories in Germany confirmed that Kasiya’s medium-to-coarse flake graphite achieved high expansion ratios, which could provide a competitive edge in the market.
The results will support customer engagement and facilitate potential offtake discussions.
Sovereign plans to produce a 96% graphite concentrate at an incremental cost of $241/tonne free on board, as outlined in the Kasiya optimised prefeasibility results.
Earlier in the month, Sovereign Metals reported progress in the rehabilitation of land at the test pit site within the Kasiya project.
Following soil remediation work in December 2024, landowners had access to the site between December 2024 and January 2025 to plant crops, ensuring no loss of a planting season.
In a related development, Sovereign Metals began a hydraulic mining trial at the Kasiya project in August 2024 as part of an optimisation study.
