KINETIC DEV (01277): The rutile project has officially commenced production on October 1, 2026.

KINETIC DEV (01277) has announced that the rutile project has officially commenced production on October 1, 2026. The details and progress of the rutile project are as follows: The rutile project is located in Rotifunk, Moyamba District, Sierra Leone. The mining license held by Minenet covers an area of approximately 117 square kilometers. According to information provided by Minenet, the reserves of the rutile project area are approximately 4.532 million tonnes. The Group has exclusive rights for exploration, mining, processing, and sales within the designated 50 square kilometer area under the license. The first production line of Phase 1 has completed construction and commissioning and officially commenced production on October 1, 2026. The second production line is expected to complete construction in mid-October 2026, and the third production line is expected to complete construction in early November 2026. Phase 1 comprises 3 production lines, with a total annual processing capacity of approximately 6 million tonnes of raw ore and an annual production capacity of approximately 220,000 tonnes of heavy mineral sands (based on the latest grade and recovery rate). Production within 2026 is expected to be approximately 26,000 tonnes. Phase 2 will add 2 production lines within 12 months, subject to the stable operation of Phase 1 and confirmation of sufficient resources. Upon reaching a total of 5 production lines and full production, the total annual processing capacity of raw ore will reach approximately 11 million tonnes, with an annual production capacity of approximately 330,000360,000 tonnes of heavy mineral sands. All mineral products will be distributed at a ratio of 80% to Metal Mining and 20% to Minenet, with each party responsible for its own sales. The heavy mineral sands produced from the rutile project are rich in valuable minerals such as rutile, titanium concentrate, and zircon sand. Customers cover midstream and downstream zirconium-titanium processing plants, chloride-process titanium dioxide producers, titanium sponge producers, titanium alloy producers, high-end welding material producers, and zirconium product processing enterprises across the industry chain. Sales channels to the Chinese market have currently been established, with customer resources covering regions including Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Liaoning. The sales approach prioritizes supplying zirconium-titanium processing plants, with a gradual expansion toward end-user production enterprises. The pricing of rutile project products references price information for rutile, titanium concentrate, and zircon sand from industry think tanks, adopting a market-oriented grade-linked pricing mechanism. The final selling price is determined by combining factors such as grade, impurity indicators, order scale, and payment method. The heavy mineral sands from the rutile project are of high-quality grade, containing 30%45% rutile (with titanium dioxide content of 95%). They are core raw materials for producing titanium dioxide and aerospace-grade titanium sponge, and constitute a mineral resource in short supply domestically in China. In terms of production, after the 3 production lines of Phase 1 are put into operation, the rutile project is expected to reach the designed mining and processing capacity of 220,000 tonnes of heavy mineral sands per year by December 2026. After the stable operation of Phase 1, the Group will carry out the construction and commissioning of the 2 additional production lines in Phase 2. In terms of sales, the heavy mineral sands products from the rutile project will initially target the Chinese market as the primary sales direction. In the future, the Company will promote its products globally depending on market conditions, continuously enrich its customer structure, and further enhance the international market competitiveness and sales scale of its products. The official commencement of production of the rutile project marks a further diversification of the Group's overseas mining layout, with overseas high-quality production capacity entering a new cycle of accelerated value release. In the future, the Group will fully leverage its mature mining operation experience by optimizing mining and ore processing plans and strengthening full-process cost control. Upon reaching full production, the rutile project is expected to become a new source of revenue growth for the Group.