ASX-listed Fortuna Metals has started a 66-hole Phase 1 drilling programme at its Kampini rutile and graphite project, in Malawi.

The targeted exploration footprint is defined by two primary licences – the Mkanda and Kampini assets – which cover a combined area of 658 km².

Exploration drilling at the Mkanda project is advancing the delineation of rutile, graphite and rare earth mineralisation, with a 7 618 m aircore programme now completed.

The company adds that the 2026 exploration programme at Mkanda is focused on expanding the project’s resource potential and upgrading the confidence of the resource through closer-spaced drilling.

The 2025 drilling programme was conducted as a first-pass reconnaissance campaign, with drilling on a 400 m by 400 m grid to investigate extensive areas of high-grade rutile and graphite mineralisation.

The results informed the project’s maiden inferred mineral resource estimate, announced on July 1 this year.

The 2026 programme has subsequently shifted to a tighter 200 m by 200 m drilling grid, aimed at further defining mineralisation and increasing the resource category.

The completed 7 618 m aircore programme forms part of this work, with results from priority samples expected shortly and continuing to be released over the next four to six months.

“The exploration team continue to systematically explore our Malawi projects, having only just recently completed the 7 600 m aircore programme, the team have mobilised to Kampini to begin the Phase 1 hand auger programme.

“This programme will target a 50 km strike length of rutile-bearing lithology close to the Mkanda and Kasiya deposits, following up in historical drilling with titanium values of up to 2.14%.

“The Phase 1 drilling has the dual purpose to traverse the tenement from west to east over the entire 50 km strike of the rutile-bearing lithology host to the Mkanda and Kasiya deposits and follow up on historical drill holes that returned high titanium values in shallow hand auger drilling,” says Fortuna CEO Tom Langley.

He notes that even though only a small amount of drilling was done at Kampini in the past, the results are encouraging as every drill hole found a substantial portion of high-grade titanium.

Fortuna’s top findings were 8 m of titanium oxide at 1.46% and 7 m of titanium oxide at 2.14%. An old drill hole at Mkanda has found 10 m of titanium oxide at 1.37%, where the presence of rutile was found. A second hole drilled in the exact same spot in 2025 found 10 m of titanium oxide at 0.76%

The company says that these projects are well positioned with good access to transport, power and water. The central region is located 20 km from Malawi’s capital city Lilongwe and is within 25 km of a major railway line connecting to a deep-water shipping port in Mozambique.

High-capacity electricity lines are about 15 km away and there is enough fresh water for potential processing options, Fortuna says.