ASX- and Aim-listed titanium and graphite miner Sovereign Metals has appointed Marco Da Cunha as lead environmental, social and governance (ESG) officer.
Da Cunha has almost 20 years’ experience in environmental and social management, including preparing environmental- and social-impact assessments (ESIAs) for mining projects.
He was part of diversified miner Rio Tinto’s iron-ore project team in Guinea recently, where he developed a coal management strategy for the Simandou mine and communities.
Rio Tinto also happens to be one of Sovereign’s strategic investors, including through support of a definitive feasibility study on the Kasiya project, in Malawi.
Da Cunha will be advancing the ESIA for Sovereign’s Kasiya project.
Sovereign MD Frank Eagar comments that the company aims to set a global standard in climate-smart mining by bringing its low-carbon rutile and graphite products to market, while realising real-world community and environmental benefits.
He believes Da Cunha brings to the company exemplary experience in environmental and social management for large-scale African mine development projects.
Sovereign in September last year published a prefeasibility study on the project, confirming that it has the potential to be one of the world’s largest and lowest-cost producers of natural rutile and graphite. The study envisages a 25-year mine life, producing between 12-million and 24-million tonnes a year, over two stages of development.