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Fortuna Metals (ASX:FUN) is now preparing to dispatch bulk samples from its Mkanda rutile and graphite project in Malawi to potential downstream offtake partners. The production of the sample packages is part of the current metallurgical tests aimed at producing Mkanda rutile concentrate of around 95%.
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The company contracted Johannesburg mineral sands processing specialist Mineral Technologies to complete the bulk sample test work by June.
The contract’s scope of work includes the review of a rutile, graphite and rare earth potential flowsheet.
“We are continuing to push our exploration efforts at the Mkanda rutile project as we await drilling results for the remaining 90% of drillholes,” CEO Tom Langley said.
“Completing metallurgical testwork is a key step to fast-tracking potential offtake agreements with high quality customers in the titanium sponge-titanium metal market used in aerospace, defence, and advanced manufacturing.”
Fortuna is following the same exploration and development pathway as its neighbour Sovereign Metals at the Kasiya deposit, but aims to shorten the timeframe.
“We’ve proven this by rapidly drilling Mkanda on a 400m by 400m grid within three months of acquiring the project, to allow us to potentially put an inferred resource out in the second half of this year,” Mr Langley continued.
“We made multiple visits to our assay laboratories in Cape Town and Johannesburg ahead of a busy year of drilling. We look forward to updating the market with a consistent flow of rutile, graphite and rare earths drilling results throughout Q1 and Q2 of 2026.”
Mineral Technologies will process a five-ton bulk sample through a conventional mineral sands flowsheet, aiming to produce a high-quality rutile concentrate.
The company is collecting the sample within several large coherent high-grade rutile anomalies identified over 25 sq. km. Mr Langley explained to shareholders today that the bulk sample will be critical to guiding mining studies for the first phase of mining the shallow high-grade mineralisation.
FUN is up +4.71%, to 8.9c. Mkt cap $24.09M.
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