Appointment of Experienced ESG Officer

Sovereign Metals Limited

15 February 2024

 

NEWS RELEASE I 15 FEBRUARY 2024

SOVEREIGN APPOINTS EXPERIENCED LEAD ESG OFFICER AND ADVANCES ESIA

Sovereign Metals Limited (ASX:SVM; AIM:SVML) (the Company or Sovereign) is pleased to announce the appointment of highly experienced environmental and social specialist Mr Marco Da Cunha, as its new Lead Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Officer.

Mr Da Cunha has almost 20 years of experience in the field of environmental and social management, including over a decade preparing Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs), and Environmental Management Plans, for mining projects. In addition, Mr Da Cunha has specialist experience in Social Impact Assessments, and Management Plans, for large scale mining, oil & gas, and infrastructure projects, throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

Recently, Mr Da Cunha was part of Rio Tinto's Simandou iron ore project team in Guinea. Simandou is the world's largest undeveloped high-grade iron ore deposit, and its development will be the largest greenfield integrated mine and infrastructure investment in Africa. Mr Da Cunha's role at Simandou involved functioning as international support to the Simandou Mine Communities and Social Performance Manager in Guinea, and the support and development of the social management strategy.

Kasiya's ESIA will now advance following the appointment of Mr Da Cunha. Sovereign has previously completed site surveys by specialist environmental and social consultants in August 2021, May 2022, and October 2023. These surveys provide a solid basis from which to advance the ESIA.

Kasiya's ESIA will be undertaken in compliance with relevant Malawian legislation, regulations, and standards; in particular, the Environmental Management Act (No. 19 of 2017) and Guidelines of Environmental Impact Assessment (DEA, 1997). The project also aims to meet international guidelines and standards, including the IFC Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability (IFC, 2012), the World Bank Group Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines (WBG, 2007), and the Equator Principles (Equator Principles Association, 2020).

Upon Mr Da Cunha’s appointment, Managing Director, Frank Eagar commented: "Our ambition, with the development of Kasiya, is to set the global standard in Climate Smart Mining by bringing our low carbon footprint rutile and graphite products to market, while realising real-world community and environmental benefits. In order to achieve this, we have attracted the best talent and experience in the ESG field. Marco's appointment has bolstered our Owners Team's ESG capability bringing exemplary experience in environmental and social management for large-scale African mine development projects aligning and consolidating on the recent appointment of SocialEssence."

ENQUIRIES

Frank Eagar (South Africa/Malawi) Managing Director [phone]

Sam Cordin (Perth) [phone]

Sapan Ghai (London) [phone]

Nominated Adviser on AIM and Joint Broker
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP	[phone]
Ewan Leggat Charlie Bouverat Harry Davies-Ball
Joint Brokers
Berenberg	[phone]
Matthew Armitt
Jennifer Lee
Buchanan	+ 44 20 7466 5000

Forward Looking Statement

This release may include forward-looking statements, which may be identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "projects", "plans", and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on Sovereign's expectations and beliefs concerning future events. Forward looking statements are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of Sovereign, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Sovereign makes no undertaking to subsequently update or revise the forward-looking statements made in this release, to reflect the circumstances or events after the date of that release.

 

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