Sovereign Metals Ltd (ASX:SVM, OTC:SVMLF, AIM:SVML) has partnered with US-based international development organisation The Palladium Group to work on agricultural and community support in Malawi, where Sovereign’s Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project is based.
Sustainable, climate-smart and inclusive
Palladium implements several development projects, including the Feed the Future Malawi Growth Poles Project, which invests in local rural communities to advance sustainable, climate-smart and inclusive wealth creation.
Growth Poles is a US$50 million project that started last year and will run until 2028. Palladium is a global impact firm that works to link social progress and commercial growth.
Sovereign and Palladium will collaborate around Sovereign’s Kasiya Project to provide key agricultural inputs, training, technologies and financing to develop and integrate small landholder farmers into the emerging high-growth agriculture value chains.
Sovereign’s existing Conservation Farming Program, which promotes improved small-scale agricultural practices along with community support and mentorship networks, is a central plank of the companies’ Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The Conservation Farming Program’s objective is to substantially improve crop yields of the farming communities within and around the project area, thus improving food security and economic growth.
Broadening access
Over the course of 60 years, Palladium has mobilised capital and developed programs that build enduring, sustainable and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges and conserve the natural world.
The organisation is said to have impacted the lives and livelihoods of more than 76 million people across 90 countries, broadening access to health, water, power and infrastructure.
Sovereign has launched several social development initiatives focused on improved health, education and conservation farming practices in communities in and near the Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project.
The MoU sets out a long-term vision for multi-partner investment and co-development aimed at supporting community engagement activities and scaling up the availability of commercial agriculture across Malawi.
There is a particular focus on environmentally and economically vulnerable groups and households, to improve livelihoods for communities around the Kasiya Project.
Sovereign and Palladium are already collaborating to provide Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags to beneficiaries of Sovereign’s Conservation Farming Program.
PICS are non-chemical, hermetically sealable bags that reduce post-harvest losses by 20-30% caused by poor storage of grains.
World’s largest deposit
Sovereign’s Kasiya project is one of only 11 Tier-1 mineral deposits discovered in the last decade.
It is the world’s largest rutile resource and second largest flake graphite resource and has the potential to be the world’s largest, lowest cost and lowest carbon producer of both minerals.
Sovereign recognises that the Kasiya Project presents an opportunity to assist Malawi in realising its stated Sustainable Development Goals to directly benefit local communities.
The company’s stated aim is to work with the Malawi Government, the private sector and international development organisations such as Palladium to achieve this.
Source: Proactive