By Pempho Kantayeni & Pickson Chipeso
Lilongwe, January 28, Mana: Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism on Tuesday engaged Sovereign Metals Ltd to discuss overview of the Kasiya mine exploration.
Sovereign Metals Ltd estimates that it will take five to six years before they start mining rutile from the Kasiya mine deposit.
Speaking at Parliament Building, Chairperson for the committee, Paul Nkhoma, asked Sovereign Metals Ltd to minimize the time frame to at least two years in order to expedite the process to the benefit the country.
The Committee asked Sovereign Metals to share with them a report of the findings of the feasibility study.
“From the report, we will extract the timelines at which time they will require something from any government department, from where we will oversee those government departments. If the government credits are given to them on time, they will be able to start operations much earlier,” he said.
Sovereign Metals Ltd Social Performance Manager, Garth Lappeman, said structures required to enable the project to be mined typically takes between two to three years.
He said even when expedited, it is a huge undertaking which needs to be taken with caution.
“If all goes according to plan, we are looking forward to be moving the project into an operation phase in the next five to six years,” he said.
He added that government of Malawi wants this project expedited as it is an opportunity for a significant amount of development of Malawi’s economy with a substantial amount of benefits for the people of Malawi.
“As Sovereign Metal Ltd, our legacy is important. We are a company that cares about the impact that we are going to have on communities and the environment.
“So over the next nine months, up until the end of October, we will have teams of consultants and specialist working very hard to define the feasibility of the project,” he said.
He said once fully informed, they will move to seeking and applying for a mining license.
Kasiya deposit mine was discovered in 2019.
