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OPERATIONAL REVIEW
DIGGeRs & DeALeRs PReVIeW MACA.NET.AU

Once, twice, three times the vanadium

combination of the public purse and capi- ting the mining side right is crucial to realis- There, the concentrate is pelletised and
A tal markets have set Australian Vanadium ing everything else the company wishes to roasted in a grate kiln, then precipitated with
Ltd (AVL) on its way to finally fulfilling West- achieve. a pregnant leach solution before finally being
ern Australia’s long-held vanadium dream. “The world needs high-purity vanadium to converted into vanadium pentoxide flakes
WA’s vanadium sector has flickered with feed the growing markets in steel and bat- for packaging and export.
promise for nearly 40 years without ever teries,” Algar said. “How does that material The switch to Mullewa places AVL just
reaching fruition. However, with global sup- come about? First you need to make vana- 25km from the gas pipeline, helping to re-
ply restricted and new applications in steel dium on the ground, and we can do that with duce cash costs associated with power con-
and batteries being developed, WA vana- our 25-year project in the Mid West of WA.” sumption. It will also presents an opportunity
dium’s time could be now. While the company may not be a conven- to sell 900,000 tpa of an iron ore-titanium
Investors and government agencies be- tional resources firm, the project largely is. by-product.
lieve AVL could be the leading light in that In April, AVL released a positive BFS for Having studied the vanadium market for
movement. The last three months have seen the Australian vanadium project – 43km several years, Algar believes there is la-
the Perth-based junior receive $48 million as south of Meekatharra, demonstrating its abil- tent demand for AVL’s flake product. With
part of the Federal Government’s Modern ity to produce 11,000 tpa of vanadium pen- only three primary vanadium mines outside
Manufacturing Facility and raise $27.5 mil- toxide over a 25-year mine life. Capex was China, there is also growing demand for a
lion via a placement and SPP. estimated at $US435 million with the project high-purity product sought after in military
The funds have been committed to sup- NPV set at $833 million. and other specialty sectors.
port AVL’s three-pronged development strat- Algar said that with the grant and capital “There are three vanadium products; pen-
egy which will see it build a mine producing raising in place, AVL would push on with toxide powder, pentoxide flake and ferrova-
high-quality concentrate for the steel market, funding. nadium but all of them are tied back to the
a vanadium electrolyte plant capable of sup- “We have started that process now,” he pentoxide price with premiums above and
plying product to growing battery demand said. “We expect it to be a traditional debt/ below so it is a much flatter variation versus
and a vanadium storage battery business equity mix and the next six months are very the iron ore market,” he said.
itself, servicing mines and other industrial much focused on offtake and bank due “We have already produced a high-purity
projects. diligence. We have HCF International out 99.6% grade product but the critical minerals
AVL managing director Vincent Algar has of London advising on the debt and we are market – the high-end military sector – re-
been delighted with the interest shown from working with Canaccord Genuity on the eq- lies on four 9s [99.9999% purity] and we are
markets and governments. uity raising. The plant is to find a cornerstone working on that now.”
“It is a critical time for the company and investor, either new or existing on the share And, it is increasingly likely the traditional
these funds allow us to grow the team and register, and then work up the balance.” steel market will not be AVL’s sole focus. For
push ahead with the final parts – both on While the mining side of the project is sim- five years the company has been investigat-
approvals and the technology – so we can ple, AVL has adjusted the process design to ing vanadium use in storage batteries. Its
reach FID by the end of the year and start take advantage of nearby infrastructure. Ore solution has been to play a role in defining,
construction next year,” Algar told Paydirt. will be mined, crushed and concentrated at rather than simply finding, the market.
While the company’s strategy has three site before being transported 80km to the “Vanadium has been well-regarded in the
components, there is little doubt that get- backend facility 35km from Geraldton Port. critical minerals space but there is going to

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Page 62 JULY 2022 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT