Fortuna Metals (ASX:FUN) The Kasiya Neighbour Trade in Rutile Is Heating Up

Fortuna Metals Rutile in the Shadow of a US$2.3bn PFS Comparable

Fortuna Metals (ASX:FUN) has further demonstrated larger-scale rutile mineralisation within its Mkanda Project, which is 1 of 2 projects that sit within the Malwai resource jurisdiction.

The company ran a very shallow, first pass drilling program using hand auger holes, and reported only the top 2 metres as a composite result.

This approach is designed to move quickly. It helps map where the higher grade “sweet spots” of rutile concentration may sit, before committing to deeper, more detailed drilling.

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Fortuna Metals hopes to follow in the footsteps of Sovereign (ASX:SVM)

Sovereign Metals (ASX:SVM) is the owner of the aforementioned rutile deposit and the company that Fortuna is trying to follow. Kasiya was valued at US$2.3bn in its Optimised Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) in January 2025, while Sovereign Metals is capitalised at >$350m and is well on the way towards securing financing, having granted the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation the financing rights to fund Kasiya.

SVM is 19.9% owned by Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), and beyond providing US$60m in capital, the major miner’s team. Rio has supported SVM through the Optimised Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) and will continue into the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS), helping de-risk the project. Rio’s backing signals that Tier-1 miners are actively seeking natural rutile and low-carbon feedstocks.

Fortuna Metals got into Malawi in September 2025 when it announced a share sale agreement to acquire 100% of the Mkanda and Kampini Rutile Projects. The projects lie in a highly prospective rutile province with a substantial landholding of 658 km². The projects sit along strike from the SVM Kasiya deposit, the world’s largest natural rutile resource, making Kasiya the most relevant geological and economic comparable given that the projects lie directly adjacent to each other.

First Pass Rutile Proof

Fortuna Metals has now completed more than 675 holes across a very large area of the project at wide spacing. In the first 96 holes reported, the maximum grade was up to 1.78%, which is a very strong early signal.

For context, Kaiya’s average rutile concentration is around 1%. And while 1.78% is the peak result, the more encouraging detail is distribution: Fortuna is reporting that over 20% of holes came in above 1.2%, which is a promising start for the deposit.

When you see a result like “2 m @ 1.78% from 0 m”, it simply means that from surface down to 2 metres, the average rutile grade for that interval in that hole was 1.78%.

The company is also suggesting these shallow results outline large, coherent zones rather than isolated spikes, which implies continuity across the system, not just one off hits.

The Investors’ Takeaway for FUN.

There’s still plenty to prove, though. Fortuna is waiting on 534 additional 0 to 2 metre assays, and they have flagged a key risk: surface grades can differ from deeper grades, and in many systems you can see concentrations decrease with depth.

This is a normal feature for assay drilling to be less concentrated at larger depths.

What stands out is the hit rate at a meaningful threshold. Getting 36 out of 96 holes above 1.0% rutile suggests this isn’t a one off result, it points to something broader taking shape.

They’re mapping mineralisation across roughly 25 km², and the early interpretation is that they’re seeing long trends, around 5 to 10 km, across multiple areas. If that continuity holds up as the dataset grows, it materially strengthens the case for scale.