Sights set on first international acquisition

QUEENSLAND explorer Sovereign Metals has announced its intention to acquire McCourt Mining, which owns the Central Malawi graphite project in Africa.
Under the sale agreement, Sovereign will pay $100,000 to McCourt immediately, followed by a payment of $900,000 and 12.5 million fully paid ordinary shares to complete the transaction. The transaction is subject to shareholder approval and due diligence.
The 8070 square kilometre Central Malawi project comprises two tenements near the Malawi capital of Lilongwe and will be the company’s first international acquisition.
To date, geological mapping and surface sampling has been conducted at the project and three prospects containing substantial amounts of high-grade graphite have been
identified: Tuinchi, Kaolatsitsi and Mpatozombe.
Metallurgical test work within the project has found that the majority of the graphite mineralisation is of the coarse to very coarse flake variety.
According to a statement from Sovereign, five regional “substantial graphite gneiss belts have been identified” within EPL0355 and RL0146 totalling 270km of strike length and about 100sqkm of verified outcropping gneiss.
A further 50 separate targets with known graphite gneiss in outcrops or logged in historical water bore drilling will be explored.
If the acquisition is successful, the next few months will see the commencement of exploration activities including a trenching program, an airborne electromagnetic survey to “extend and better define graphite targets” and the commencement of drill programs, according to Sovereign.
The Central Malawi project is 50km from an operating railway and is close to existing power, roads and port infrastructure.
Additionally, Soverign is undertaking a share placement to raise $1.1 million through the issue of up to 5 million shares at $0.22 each, in order to provide additional working capital for its projects.