ISSUE NO. 118 www.miningtradenews.net

DECEMBER 2022

Price MK2000

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NGA NKUNDE RARE

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PROJECT SOARS

ShayonaCement

Lindian'sminedevelopmentdrillingprogrammeintercepting

richmonazitemineralisation

Malawi Mining Minister visits project site to appreciate progress

Government advances

initiative to formalize ASMs

Page 3

Sovereignseals Kasiyarutile

offtakedeal with global mar-

ket leader

Page 5

Drilling work at Kangankunde Hill

The Minister assured the community of ample benefits from the

project, which include employment and business opportunities for

SX-listed Lindian Resources says there is outstanding progress

members of the local community and corporate social responsibility

projects.

in the mine development drilling programme for its Kan-

The project is also expected to substantially benefit the country

gankunde Rare Earth Elements (REE) Project in Balaka with

when it gets to production stage through payment of royalties and

drill samples containing extensive visible rare earth bearing mon-

taxes to the Government.

Aall

azite from surface to current hole depths.

Lindian Resources is expected to spend over US$200-million to set

The role of state- owned

Lindian CEO Mr Alistair Stephens explains that the company has

fast-track the mine development early works.

REEs, which are expected to be mined at Kangankunde, have a

deployed two Reverse Circulation rigs and one Core rig on the site to

up the mine over a period of five years.

enterprises in developing

Meanwhile, Malawi's Minister of Mining Honourable Dr Albert

growing use in the production of strong magnets for manufacturing of

Mbawala has visited the project site to appreciate progress.

electric and hybrid vehicles, wind turbines for energy generation,

economies

Honourable Mbawala and Lindian officials led by Mr Stephens also

smart phones, robotics and medical applications.

Page 9

held an interface meeting with members of the local community to

(Read the detailed article on the progress of the Kangankunde

brief them on the project.

rare earths mine development on Pages 6 and 7)

2

ADVERTISING

DECEMBER 2022

Governmentadvances initiative to formalize ASMs

DECEMBER 2022

NEWS & ANALYSIS

3

MINING

In Malawi, the number of ASM operators is estimated to

By Tawonga MAYUNI

range between 22-thousand and 40-thousand but the sector

he Ministry of Mining says it has managed to facil-

is domi nated by inf ormal op erators engag ed in the ex -

itate the formationof cooperatives for Artisanal and

ploitation of gems tones, gold , coal, gypsum, lime stones,

Small-scale Miners (ASMs) in all the three regions

construction stones and sand.

However, besides EDF buying gold strains from the min-

Tof the country, which is a step ahead in the process of for-

ers, financial institutions are reluctant to support the ASMs

malizing ASMs in the country.

with loans as they consider the business as risky.

The development comes in light of complaints by ASMs

of lack of government support to develop their business.

It is, therefore, estimated that less than 1% of Malawian

Spokesperson for th e Minist ry of Mining Andrew

ASMs have access to bank loans.

Mkonda told Mining & Trade Review that government con-

The government is, therefore, facilitating the formation of

tinues to work through the Ministry of Industry and Trade

cooperatives to, among other things, ensure that the opera-

and the Ministry of Mining to register, license and train the

tors are self-financing through shares and collective busi -

miners in the cooperatives.

ness operations as well as acting a s society security for

Mkonda said the Ministry of Mining an d Technical En-

obtaining loans from financing institutions.

trepreneurial and Vocational TrainingAuthority (TEVETA)

Cooperatives, unlike individual ASM operators, have bet-

are working to develop a formal training curriculum tailor-

ter opportunities to obtain grants and donations from gov-

made for ASMs to be trained formally in small scale min-

ernment and other organisa tions as well

a s l oans f rom

ing.

financial institutions.

Mzimba b ased miner and ASM a ctivist Chikomeni

Mkonda: We are developing curriculum for ASMs

The Ministry of Trade and Industry, t herefore, provides

Manda commented in a separate interview that production

GEMMAP Thomas Fulgraf says that the ASM sector has a

training to ASM cooperatives in Financial Management and

of the formal training curriculum tailor made for ASMs is

Costing to ensure that the cooperatives effectively manage

very important because it will narrow the skills gap.

significant potential to contribute towards rapid economic

their financial resources and are able to cost their business

"This will help miners to do things in an appropriateway

growth and development of Malawi through rural job cre-

operations to ensure that their cooperatives make business

hence their trade will be profitable for them," he said.

ation and provision of alternative economic activities.

sense.

The Reserve Bank of Malawi through its subsidiary Ex-

He, however, observes that there are sever al challenges

port Development Fu nd (EDF) is currently buyi ng gol d

that exist in th e sec tor that

from ASMs with plans in the offi ng to al so start buying

need to be addressed includ-

gemstones from the miners in order to curb smuggling of

ing limited access to modern

the minerals, which has been rampant.

technologies, capital for in -

The registered ASM coo peratives that the Ministry of

vestment in mini ng, mineral

mining is working with include : Thandizo Mining Club;

value ad dition and estab -

Tithokoze Lime Makers; Famililjsa Women Mining; Bilira

lished markets.

Mining Cooperative; Kamphanda Mining Cooperati ve;

"The ASM operators have

Matongwe Mining Cooperative; Chitanthamapiri Producers

inadequate marketing skills,

and Marketing Cooperative; Chisimbwiti Cooperative, Tag-

their min ing ope rations a re

wirizana Mining Cooperative Society Limited; Nchalo Salt

informal, they are unable to

Mining Cooperative Society Limited; Nyasa Mining Co-

understand geological infor-

operative Society; Mb indo Mining Cooperative Society;

mation and usually disregard

and Lilikoko Mining Cooperative Society.

basic mining occupational

In his write up published in the ASM ha ndbook which

health, s afety and e nviron-

was produced as part of the Geological Mapping and Min-

mental c onsideration," he

eral Assessment Project (GEMMAP), Project Manager for

says.

Informal ASMs mining operations

4

ADVERTISING

DECEMBER 2022

Kangankunde is

Sovereign seals Kasiyarutile offtake

DECEMBER 2022

NEWS & ANALYSIS

5

MINING

an opportunity

deal

with global

market leader

A

Malawi needs to

tered into a no n-binding M emorandum of Under -

utilise

SX-listed resources group Sovereign Metals has en-

tonnes o f na tural rutile pe r annum from the Company's

standing (MOU) wit h leading rutile market player

s reported in our lead article, there is exciting

Chemours Company for the potentia l supply of 20,000

Kasiya Rutile Project.

news coming from the K angankunde Rare

Chemours is a leading provider of per formance chemi-

Earth Proje ct in Balaka where ASX-listed

cals that are key inputs in end-products and processes across

Lindian Resources is conducting a mine development

a variety of industries and operates 29 manufacturing sites

A

drilling programme.

serving approximately 3,200 customers in app roximately

Kangankunde is showing overwhelming potential for

120 countries.

rare earth mining as a ll drill interce pts at the site

Sovereign's Man aging D irector Julia n S tephens com -

contain extensive visible rare-earths-bearing mon -

ments: "To have signed an MOU for the supply of natural

azite from surface to current hole depths.

rutile to Chemours, a global leader in the titanium dioxide

Lindian, which has taken over the project from a

pigment indu stry, is a

true testament to the qua lity an d

local company Rift Valley Resource Developments in

strategic n ature of our

wor ld-class Kasi ya P roject in

a purchase deal, has shown seriousnes to develop the

Malawi."

project by deploying

two Rev erse Circulation rigs

"We are excited to be working with Chemours as a future

Air-core rig drilling its first hole at Kasiya

off-take partner for our premium, low carbon-footprint ru-

and one Core rig on site to conduct the drilling pro-

tile products."

world's largest producers of high-quality titanium dioxide

gramme.

The MOU covers the potenti al supply of 20,000 tonnes

(TiO2) pigment and aspiresto be the most sustainable TiO2

In these days when countries across the globe are

per annum of natural ruti le at Stage 1 na meplate capacity

enterprise in the world.

competing to attract Foreign Direct Investment, we

and a n option to ta ke additiona l product w hen Kasiy a

Using its p roprietary chloride technology pioneered in

view this investment by Lindian as an opportunit y

reaches Stage 2 nameplate capacity.

1931 and improving ever since, Chemours provides inno -

that Malawi has to be proud of.

Stephens explains that the volumes of rutile may be var-

vative TiO solutions for coatings, plastics, and laminates.

As reported in the article, Minister of Mining Al-

ied up or down by mutual agreement and pricing will ref-

2

bert Mbawala visited the project site which bears tes-

erence market prices of t he day both to be inc luded in the

The company operates four TiO2 pigment production fa-

timony that the Malawi Governmen t is sup porting

definitive agreement.

cilities: two in the United States, one in Mexico, and one in

the investment.

He says: "The MOU is non-e xclusive and non-binding

Taiwan totaling TiO2 pigment nameplate capacity of 1.25

We urge all stakeholders including traditional lead-

and remains subject to negotiation and execution of the de-

million tonnes per year.

ers, civil society an d media to also support th e in-

finitive agreement."

In the year e nded 31 December 202 1, Chemours' Tita-

vestment in ord er for Malawi to sta rt enjoying full

"The MOU will expire two years from the execution date

nium Technologies segment reported net sales of US$3 .4

benefits of a mine at Kangankunde.

but can be extended by agreement by both parties should a

Billion.

As Senior Chief Chanthunya is quoted in the arti-

definitive agreement not have been reached by that time."

Kasiya is the world's largest rutile deposit and one of the

cle, the people of Balaka stand to ben efit from the

Chemours's Titanium Technologies segment is one of the

world's largest flake graphite deposits.

Kangankunde Mine

through corporate social r e-

sponsibility projects plus employment a nd business

opportunities that the project brings which will help

in poverty allevia tion and socio-economic dev elop-

ment in his area.

A visit to the project site by members of Mining &

Trade Review team has established that what the tra-

ditional leader says in the article is indee d the truth

as Lindian has already rec ruited some members of

the local community as unskilled labour for the proj-

ect development and has also engaged internees from

Malawi's Universities.

This indeed signifies the beginning of a new life for

members of the local Kangankunde commu nity as

Chanthunya says in the article.

The opening of Kanga nkunde Mine w ill also sig-

nify the beginning of a new life for the Malawi econ-

omy as this m ine has the potential to si gnificantly

contribute to the country's economy as the demand

for rare earth elements used to manufacture strong

magnets for production of electric vehicles and wind

turbines keeps surging on the market.

The development of a mine at Kang ankunde will

also work as an incentive that will attract otherglobal

investors to invest in mining in Malawi asit will por-

tray the country as mining friendly.

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Lindian Resources Limited published this content on 06 December 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 06 December 2022 09:11:01 UTC.