Sovereign Metals Ltd on Wednesday said that it has started backfilling the pit at Kasiya, following a successful mining trials stage at the programme.

Sovereign Metals is a mining exploration and development company, focused on projects in Malawi. Kasiya is the firm’s rutile-graphite deposit, where it is currently conducting a pilot mining land and rehabilitation programme.

Following hydraulic and dry mining trials, testing mining at Kasiya is now complete.

These trials confirmed that soft, friable Kasiya orebody can be efficiently mined ‘utilising various mining methods’, the firm said on Wednesday.

As Chief Executive Officer Frank Eager elaborated, findings ‘from this pilot phase are constantly improving our understanding of Kasiya and how to optimise operations’.

Accordingly, land rehabilitation demonstrations are now underway at site, starting with the backfilling of the test pit.

The pit, which was excavated using conventional dry mining techniques and a simple mobile excavator fleet, covered an area of 120 metres by 110 metres and was mined to a depth of 20 metres through the weathered ore at Kasiya.

The backfilling stage is expected to finish in December.

Shares in Sovereign Metals were trading 0.3% lower at 37.38 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon.

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