REG - Sovereign Metals Ltd - Sustainable Farming on Target to Triple Crop Yield

Sovereign MetalsAnnouncement

15/04/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 5516K  Sovereign Metals Limited  15 April 2024

NEWS RELEASE I 15 APRIL 2024

SUSTAINABLE FARMING INITIATIVE ON TARGET TO TRIPLE CROP YIELDS

Sovereign Metals Limited (ASX:SVM; AIM:SVML) (the Company or Sovereign) is
pleased to provide an update on its previously announced Conservation Farming
Program (Program) in Malawi.

The Company is actively executing its Environmental, Social, and Governance
(ESG) Strategy whilst developing the Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project (Kasiya or
Project). The Program is aimed at improving the livelihoods of local
communities through the creation of successful smallholder farmers. Farmers
have enthusiastically adopted the Program with 90 participants within the
Project area being trained in low-input-cost, high-yield sustainable farming
techniques. A further 300 farmers will be added during the 2024 planting
season.

The Program has already yielded visibly higher crop growth. Preliminary yield
estimates have been undertaken through a cob-count and sizing exercise of all
90 farmers. Yields are conservatively estimated at 3.2 tonnes per hectare,
tripling average conventional crop yields. This is despite Malawi's crop
yields expected to be 22.5% lower than average this year due to the El Niño
weather phenomenon.

Increases in maize (corn) production will be quantified in the coming months
during the harvest season. Farmers participating in the Program expect to
begin harvesting in May 2024, and are looking forward to a bumper harvest,
despite the much drier than usual year caused by El Niño, causing widespread
drought across southern Africa.

The Program ultimately aims to provide a platform where successful smallholder
farmers can produce sufficient surplus crops to generate sustainable household
income.

Figures 1 & 2 - Left: planted field using traditional techniques &
Right: Field farmed under the Program showing substantially more crop growth

 

Sovereign's Managing Director, Frank Eagar commented, "The incredible
improvements in expected maize yields is beyond expectations and is another
example of the positive impacts the Kasiya Project will have on our local
communities. The 90 farmers in the Program comprise 50% women and 10%
vulnerable people. We will maintain this equal opportunity policy as the
Program is rolled out across Kasiya. At a time when Malawi and other southern
African countries are facing severe drought due to weather conditions,
Sovereign takes its social responsibility very seriously and is already
delivering tangible benefits for the local community."

The Program is being implemented by Sovereign's experienced team on the
ground, which previously ran a very successful program for First Quantum
Minerals Limited's Zambian operations, where its conservation farming program
has been effectively operating since 2010. Between 2020 and 2022 harvest crops
increased by 67% from 6,000 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes of maize, with over 7,000
farmers in the program at the end of 2022.

Conservation farming as a system aims to protect soil from erosion and
degradation and increase crop yields. It involves three main principles:

1)   minimum soil disturbance, such as no-till farming,

2)   maintenance of a permanent soil cover, such as cover crops or crop
residues and

3)   diversification of plant species, such as crop rotation.

This is a highly important program for Malawi with maize making up two-thirds
of national calorie intake, with nine out of ten farming households producing
maize, devoting over 70% of their land to growing it. Sovereign has already
identified the next season's farmers, with the Program being scaled up from 90
to 300 farmers in the 2024/2025 agricultural season. This quantity of farmers
will prove that the program successfully increases agricultural production in
a sustainable manner, during Sovereign's upcoming Definitive Feasibility
Study. Sovereign plans to roll out Conservation Farming as its cornerstone
livelihood restoration and improvement project for the Kasiya Project in the
medium to long term.

Figure 3 - On-site Program leader, Mr Duncan Chinkanda with local farmers and
team members showing  Program adopted crops on the left and traditionally
farmed land on the right

 

ENQUIRIES

 Frank Eagar (South Africa/Malawi)  Sam Cordin (Perth)  Sapan Ghai (London)

Managing Director
+61(8) 9322 6322
+44 207 478 3900

 +61(8) 9322 6322

 

 Nominated Adviser on AIM and Joint Broker
 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP             +44 20 3470 0470
 Ewan Leggat

 Charlie Bouverat

 Harry Davies-Ball

 Joint Brokers
 Stifel                                     +44 20 7710 7600
 Varun Talwar
 Ashton Clanfield

 Berenberg                                  +44 20 3207 7800
 Matthew Armitt
 Jennifer Lee

 Buchanan                                   + 44 20 7466 5000

Forward Looking Statement

This release may include forward-looking statements, which may be identified
by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "projects", "plans",
and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on
Sovereign's expectations and beliefs concerning future events. Forward looking
statements are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors,
many of which are outside the control of Sovereign, which could cause actual
results to differ materially from such statements. There can be no assurance
that forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Sovereign makes no
undertaking to subsequently update or revise the forward-looking statements
made in this release, to reflect the circumstances or events after the date of
that release.

 

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