Fortuna Metals (ASX:FUN) Mkanda Delivers High Grade Rutile Zones, 485 Holes Still to Come

First Drilling Hits Kasiya Style Rutile

Fortuna Metals is a small ASX-listed miner with exposure to the Mkanda and Kampini projects in Malawi, covering 658km² and sitting directly south of Sovereign Metals’ Kasiya rutile deposit.

Today’s announcement was a strong first look at what Mkanda could potentially hold. The company completed its first ever drilling program across the project, with 675 shallow holes averaging 8m deep over a broad 180km² area, aiming to identify where the highest-grade rutile sits.

What stands out is that the results returned multiple large zones of high-grade rutile that appear to mirror the geology of the neighbouring world-class Kasiya deposit. For a first-pass program, that is a very encouraging outcome and gives us a much stronger reason to pay attention.

To put it into context, Sovereign’s Kasiya project averages around 1% rutile across its deposit. Fortuna’s best drilling result came in at 1.15%, with an average grade of 0.82%, which is broadly in line with the geological profile we have already seen at Kasiya.

What are the Best ASX Stocks to invest in right now?

Check our buy/sell tips

First 40 Holes Look Strong, The Rerate Depends on the Next 485

Rutile is best understood as one of the most important feedstocks for titanium dioxide production because of its exceptionally high purity, often above 95%. It is the premium natural feedstock that goes through downstream processing to produce titanium dioxide, which is then used in titanium metal and high-value pigments.

That matters even more when you consider how scarce natural rutile deposits are becoming globally. Traditional producers are in decline, high-quality supply is tightening, and that is helping support strong pricing. Against that backdrop, spot rutile prices are sitting around US$1,100 to US$1,700 per tonne, while the titanium metal market is expected to grow from US$30B in 2025 to US$54B by 2034.

What also stands out here is that this announcement only covers 40 of the 675 holes drilled. That means a large portion of the program is still to come, with another 485 results yet to be reported. For us, that creates a clear pipeline of news flow across Q1 and Q2 2026, with plenty of scope for the defined anomaly areas to keep expanding as more data comes through.

The scale of the project is also significant. Mkanda and Kampini cover 658km², which is a very large land package spanning much of the same 70km geological strike as the Kasiya deposit. So far, the defined high-grade zones cover 17.8km², which already starts to show the potential size of the system, especially when compared to Kasiya, located just 20km to the north.

The company is targeting an inferred resource by H2 2026. To get there, it now needs to complete infill drilling so there are enough data points to formally estimate how much mineralisation exists in the ground under a JORC-compliant resource. For us, that is the next key step because it starts turning strong early exploration results into something the market can properly value.

The investor’s takeaway for FUN

What investors can take away from this is that the first-pass grades look competitive relative to Sovereign’s Kasiya project, with a strong hit rate of premium rutile mineralisation. That is an encouraging result and supports the view that Fortuna may be sitting on the right geology.

At the same time, this is still very early stage. The project remains firmly in exploration, and there is still a long way to go before the market can place real confidence around scale, continuity, and economics.

The company is targeting an inferred resource in H2 2026, which means a formal resource declaration is likely still 6 to 12 months away. Until then, the key things for us to watch are the steady release of further drilling results and the pending graphite assay results, both of which could play an important role in shaping the broader investment case.