FORTUNA METALS LTD (FUN) - The Mkanda Rutile Discovery Next To A Global Giant

Titanium sits inside some of the most important machines on the planet, yet supply chains are tightening and governments are treating critical minerals like strategy, not just commodities. That’s why we wanted to talk with Tom Langley, CEO of Fortuna Metals Limited, about what the company is uncovering in Malawi, an emerging rutile and graphite province that sits right beside Sovereign Metals’ world-class Kasiya deposit. 

We walk through Fortuna’s Mkanda discovery and what the numbers are hinting at so far, including high-grade rutile at surface and expanding core areas that point to serious scale. Tom explains the logic behind their rapid 0–2 metre sampling strategy, how it helps prioritise drill targets, and why confirming mineralisation at depth is the next value-defining step. We also dig into the deposit style, the role of weathering in concentrating heavy minerals, and why Malawi’s preserved profile can be such a powerful ingredient for rutile projects. 

From there, we zoom out to the bigger picture: why rutile is the highest-grade natural titanium feedstock, where titanium demand shows up in aerospace and defence, and how graphite credits could materially improve project economics. We touch on the market validation coming from next door at Kasiya, including strategic partners, funding interest and offtake agreements, then finish with what investors can watch for through 2026, from drilling programs and an exploration target to a maiden resource and metallurgical testwork. 

If you care about ASX resources, rutile, graphite, titanium supply chains and critical minerals policy, subscribe, share this with a mate, and leave us a review. What’s the single milestone that would most change your view on Fortuna Metals?

Transcript

Andrew Musgrave

Welcome again to ASX Briefs, the podcast bringing you interesting conversations with ASX listed companies. And today we're joined by Tom Langley, the CEO of Fortuna Metals Limited, an exploration company making rapid strides in the emerging world-class rutile and graphite province of Malawi. 
 Tom, great to have you with me today and welcome to the ASX Briefs podcast.

Tom Langley

Cheers Andrew, thanks for having me.

Andrew Musgrave
 
 

Now Tom for those new to the story, can you provide an overview of Fortuna Metals and why you transitioned the company’s focus toward the Mkanda and Kampini projects in Malawi?

Tom Langley

Yeah, so Fortuna Metals, is an early-stage explorer. We're currently trading around eight cents, just under $7 million cash at bank with an EV of around $17 million. So, we've acquired about 658 square kilometres of granted mining leases in Malawi, just adjacent to Sovereign Metals world-class Kasiya deposit. So, we recently picked these up in September of last year on the back of being a previous rare earth explorer in the Gascoyne, where we made a discovery of outcropping iron stones next to Hastings Yangibana deposit. We subsequently drilled that out at 14,000 meters and did an inferred resource of 1 million tons at 1% total rare earth. So, we've got a track record of making discoveries and then doing exploration work to underpin the value and progress our projects as quick as we can.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and you recently announced a significant rutile discovery at Mkanda, so including a peak assay of 2.21%. So, with high-grade cores now expanded to cover roughly 18 square kilometres, how does this confirm your belief that this is a major new rutile province?

Tom Langley

Yeah, so firstly, Sovereign Metals trading as SVM have a major rutile graphite discovery at Kasiya. The world's largest rutile deposit and second largest coarse flake graphite deposit. That geology extends down into our ground all the way through Mkanda and Kampini projects. What we're seeing with a high-grade rutile at surface is supported by the drill holes that have gone to depth around the 10 meters based on the hand auger drilling we've done. So really what we're seeing is a replica of Sovereign and now it's just about mapping out the overall potential of the resource that we have.

Andrew Musgrave

You've also implemented a top zero-to-two-meter sampling strategy for rapid mapping. So how has this accelerated your ability to identify high priority drill targets compared to traditional methods?

Tom Langley

Yeah, the strategy to assay the first zero to two meters has been able to rapidly turn around our assay time. And then we can focus on the high-grade areas at surface to prove that that mineralization goes to depth. And those areas, those high-grade cores that we mentioned about 18 square kilometres across Mkanda, will be the focus of our resource drilling this year.

Andrew Musgrave

And as mentioned, your project sits immediately south of Sovereign Metals world-class Kasiya project. So how closely does the geology and mineralization at Mkanda mirror what is being seen at Kasiya, particularly regarding the alluvial heavy mineral deposit style?

Tom Langley

Yeah, we're seeing a basic a replica of Sovereign with regards to the rutile mineralization. It's an alluvial style deposit, so it's different to your traditional strandline or dunal type deposits that you see in places like WA with Iluka. So, we've got in- situ concentration of heavy minerals through weathering of physically and chemically mobile minerals have basically moved out of that profile. So, it's all about the preservation of your weathering profile, and that's what makes Malawi so good. And it's the reason why we're seeing high-grade drill hits, you know, 10 metres from surface all the way to the end of the hole, 1.6% rutile. So really, really encouraging and we're seeing, yeah, basically exactly what they saw at Kasiya in the early days.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and just touching on Sovereign Metals, can you tell me more about what they have done to process their world-class rutile project?

Tom Langley

Yeah, so Sovereign have been partnering up with Rio Tinto as a 20% major shareholder. In the last month, they've recently got World Bank IFC on board as a potential funding partner. This is really, really encouraging. On the back of that, one of the commodity traders picked by the US government called Traxys for Project Vault, which is a $12 billion critical minerals stockpiling initiative. They've also come on board as a graphite off taker. And then recently Mitsui out of Japan have signed up for the rutile offtake. So, what we're seeing is a lot of interest in the critical minerals that Kasiya and this part of Malawi have, being rutile and graphite. So, I think ultimately that, yeah, we're at the epicentre, the Western Aligned titanium global policy around critical minerals. And I think we're really, really well placed here to one, have a discovery, build out that resource, and then ultimately look for off-take partners.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and just at a higher level, touching on rutile and titanium, how do these fit into our current economies and future growth?

Tom Langley

Yeah, so rutile is the purest, highest-grade form of naturally occurring titanium. So really high-end feedstock for titanium sponge, which gets used in titanium metal. This is really, really important for aerospace, defence, and Japan in particular is the main downstream buyer. And obviously, we've seen Japan and US and EU come out with their critical minerals supply initiative. So, it's really tying in quite nicely with that thematic. In terms of overall use of rutile, we're seeing around 10.4 kilos projected to be used in a humanoid by Tesla's Optimus humanoid. Boeing 787 Dream is up to 15% titanium, and the Lockhead Martins, you know, F35 Lightning Jets up to 20% titanium. So really, really critical in the advanced manufacturing industries.

Andrew Musgrave

And while rutile is the headline, you also have a dual focus on graphite and rare earths. So, how significant could the graphite credits be for the overall economics of the Mkanda project?

Tom Langley

Yeah, so it's really interesting. When you add the rutile and the graphite together as a rutile equivalent at Kasiya, it goes from 1% rutile to 2% rutile equivalent. So, this is really important in adding the overall project economics, driving the bottom line to get into production and fund these sorts of projects. And then we see Traxys that commodity trader come on for an MOU of the graphite offtake and supplying USA with those minerals. Ultimately both minerals are of high importance.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and you touched on the critical mineral alliance between the US, EU, and Japan. So just quickly, what is it and how does it tie into the Malawi project?

Tom Langley

Yeah, so on the 4th of February this year, the US, Europe, and Japan advanced a critical mineral supply chain resilience initiative. And this is on the back of the US putting about $30 billion into critical mineral projects the past six months. Ultimately, it's about sort of stepping away from the eastern reliance on most minerals in general. But in particular, the USA imports 100% of their titanium. So, this is a real critical bottleneck for them.

Andrew Musgrave

Now, finally, Tom, with air core drilling set to begin in the upcoming dry season to test deeper mineralization, what are the primary milestones investors should be on the lookout for the rest of 2026?

Tom Langley

Yeah, so we're going to be quite aggressive with drilling programs this year, you know, trying to get to a resource with urgency. We want to put our exploration target end of this month, inferred maiden resource, September, October this year. And then that'll tie into an indicator resource early next year, and we can kick off all the scoping studies work. Parallel to that, we're trying to develop the metallurgical studies. So, we've got a bulk sample in at Johannesburg Mineral Technologies. That rutile concentrate will get sent off to downstream producers, i.e. Japan. And basically, pending that, and we've seen Sovereign do similar work, and the off takers there really, really like the quality. That's all-public information. We're quite excited by where that may lead and hope overall de-risk our project going forward.

Andrew Musgrave

All right, Tom. Well, it's been great to discuss the projects and the company. So, thanks for your time, and we look forward to further updates from Fortuna Metals in the upcoming months.

Tom Langley

Great. Thanks, Andrew. Really appreciate it.

Andrew Musgrave

That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe, and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.