S Sovereign Metals Limited announced that as part of its Environmental, Social, and Governance Strategy in developing its Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project ("KKiya"), it has commissioned a Conservation Farming Program ("Program") in Malawi. Malawi's food security depends on maize (corn); it is the major staple food crop in Malawi with 60% of cropped land devoted to its production. Sovereign has commissioned the initial Program for 90 Malawian maize farmers from within the project area, of which at least 50% are female.

The Program is to provide training in low-input-cost, high-yield sustainable farming techniques, with the aim to provide a platform for the farmers to increase yield and productivity therefore helping to reduce malnutrition and poverty. Conservation farming as a system aims to protect soil from erosion and degradation and increase crop yields. It involves three main principles: minimum soil disturbance, such as no-till farming, maintenance of a permanent soil cover, such as cover crops or crop residues and diversification of plant species, such as crop rotation.

According to the United States Agency for International Development, 80% of Malawi's population are smallholder farmers with livelihoods based on agriculture and subsistence farming. This initiative forms part of Sovereign's ESG Strategy to develop its tier one Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project while simultaneously restoring and improving the livelihoods of local communities. The Program is being implemented by the Company's experienced team on the ground, which previously ran a very successful initiative for First Quantum Minerals Limited's Zambian operations where its conservation farming program has been effectively operating since 2010.

Between 2020 and 2022 harvest crops increased by 67% from 6,000 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes of maize, with over 7,000 farmers in the program at the end of 2022.