Chilwa Minerals Ltd has confirmed that reconnaissance sonic drilling at its Mpyupyu West prospect in Malawi is consistently intersecting mineralised, free-dig saprolite from surface. The company has completed 60 holes for 551 metres, representing 22% of its planned 268-hole Phase I programme.

The drilling has revealed a mineralised horizon averaging 7.3 metres in thickness, extending to a maximum of 12 metres across the 17-square-kilometre target area. Geological logging through the full profile indicates an in-situ, residually concentrated saprolite-hosted deposit, which the company notes differs from the depositional sands found at its other licence deposits.

“Sixty holes into Phase I and the picture at Mpyupyu West is remarkably consistent. We are intersecting soft, free-dig saprolite from surface, hole after hole, across a target area of more than 17 square kilometres immediately west of our Mpyupyu Dune and Flat deposits, with the mineralised horizon averaging 7.3 metres thick and reaching 12 metres in places - the same system that underpins the 109.6 Mt Mpyupyu Mineral Resource.”

— Cadell Buss, Managing Director

To accelerate the programme, Chilwa has redeployed both available sonic rigs to Mpyupyu West, pausing resource-definition work at the nearby Bimbi Main prospect. The company expects to complete the Phase I drilling in late September 2026, with the first laboratory sink-float assay results anticipated in October.

This exploration activity is part of a multi-commodity strategy at the Lake Chilwa licence. Chilwa is simultaneously advancing its Nakombe alkaline intrusive target, where pre-resource diamond drilling is underway to test niobium, tantalum, and gallium mineralisation. Furthermore, the company is conducting an ionic clay rare earth element programme within the weathering profile of the Chilwa Alkaline Complex.

The company’s heavy mineral sands (HMS) deposits, situated across the northern and western shores of the lake, remain a central focus for its upcoming scoping study, which is expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2026.

Read the full announcement: Drilling Confirms Mineralisation From Surface