#SVML Sovereign Metals – INFILL DRILLING PROGRAM COMPLETE

·    Infill drilling program designed to upgrade Kasiya’s Mineral Resource Estimate and convert Ore Reserves from Probable to Proven category now complete

·    Total of 281 holes drilled over 5,607 metres using aircore drilling supported by 339 hand auger, push tube and diamond core drill holes over 1,940 metres

·    Program focused on southern Kasiya, which is the area intended to supply ore feed for first eight years of production

·    All drill samples will have both rutile and graphite assayed by offsite laboratories in South Africa and Australia

·    Results of drilling program and Resource upgrade anticipated in early 2025

Sovereign Metals Limited (ASX:SVM, AIM:SVML, OTCQX:SVMLF) (Sovereign or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has completed an infill drilling program at its Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project (Kasiya or Project) to support ongoing technical studies.

Aircore drilling, supported by hand auger, push tube and diamond core drilling, has now been completed in the southern part of Kasiya. The drilling was focused on the designated pits proposed to provide ore feed in the first eight years of the Project’s production schedule. Ore Reserves in these areas are expected to convert from the Probable to Proven category with an upgrade of the current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) from Indicated to the Measured category under the JORC (2012) Code. 

Managing Director and CEO Frank Eagar commented: “Completing the infill drilling program on schedule will assist us in upgrading our Mineral Resource Estimate and will feed into our future technical studies as part of ongoing pre-development activities at the Kasiya Project being overseen by the Sovereign-Rio Tinto Technical Committee.”

Offsite laboratories in South Africa and Australia will assay all samples for rutile and graphite. The drilling program’s results and subsequent Resource upgrade are expected in early 2025.

Kasiya is already the world’s largest rutile deposit and second-largest flake graphite deposit, with over 66% of the current MRE in the Indicated category.

Infill Drilling Program Overview

An offset 200×200 metre program was designed (see Figure 1), resulting in an average drill spacing of 142 metres. The offset spacing had the advantage of allowing analysis of geology and grade continuity in both orthogonal and diagonal directions.

The drilling program consisted of:

1.   281 aircore holes drilled over 5,607m, with an average depth of 20 metres

2.   309 hand auger holes drilled over 1,280m, with an average depth of 4 metres

3. 30 push tube and diamond core holes drilled over 663m, providing samples for verification twinning and geotechnical sampling with an average depth of 22 metres

The current MRE identifies broad and continuous high-grade rutile and graphite zones, extending over a vast area of more than 201 km². Rutile mineralisation is concentrated in laterally extensive, near-surface, flat “blanket” deposits in areas where the weathering profile remains intact and largely uneroded. Graphite is largely depleted near the surface, with grades generally improving at depths greater than 4 metres, down to the base of the saprolite zone, which averages around 22 metres.

Figure 1: Plan view of aircore MRE infill drilling program

Figure 2: Plan view of push tube / diamond drill MRE twin and geotechnical holes

Figure 3: Air Core site at Kasiya, with sample collection and logging

Figure 4: Commencement of a new hole using aircore drilling

Figure 5: Push tube / diamond core site setup at Kasiya

Figure 6: Push tube / diamond core showing stainless Shelby tubes for geotechnical samples and PVC casing for collection of push tube samples in foreground