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don’t rule out any additional raisings, but
we’re very well funded for the position
we’re in. Obviously working capital, as a
company grows, particularly into pre-de-
velopment, is critical and we’ll keep our
eyes on that.”
A DFS released in mid-2015 found
Mount Peake could support production
of 17,560 tpa high purity vanadium pen-
toxide, 236,000 tpa titanium dioxide and
637,000 tpa pig iron over an initial life of
17 years.
Pre-production capex of $970 million is
required for the initial 3 mtpa operation,
with production revenue to be used to
fund the ramp-up of operations to 6 mtpa
after four years.
TNG recently signed a MoU with global
trader Wogen Pacific for the long-term
sales and marketing of titanium dioxide
products to all but secure the third and
final stream of project off-take. The com-
pany has previously signed binding life-
of-mine deals with WOOJIN and Gunvor
River running hot for TNG spin-off
TNG Ltd spin-off Todd River Resources
Ltd was set to debut on the ASX at
the time of print following a successful $6
million IPO.
The new company had no trouble pull-
ing together the maximum subscription,
with the TNG shareholders contributing
$1.52 million and the remaining funds
raised via a general offer with lead broker
Sanlam Private Wealth.
TNG decided to spin off its non-core
base metals assets, all in the Northern
Territory, last year to focus all of its at-
tention into developing the Mount Peake
vanadium-iron-titanium project.
Todd River is the fourth resources
spin-off in the past six months and the
company will be hoping to experience
the same early success as Horizon Gold
Ltd (Panoramic Resources Ltd), West-
gold Resources Ltd (Metals X Ltd) and
Ardea Resources Ltd (Heron Resouces
Ltd).
“Spinning it off like this is the most ef-
fective way for our shareholders and
company to realise the potential of these
projects,” TNG managing director Paul
Burton said.
“Although we call them non-core
because Mount Peake has basically
usurped the size and scale of everything
else with the progress we made there,
these are very intriguing projects in their
own right.
“Had we not had low commodity prices
Group for the respective vanadium and
iron product suites from Mount Peake.
“We’re also engaging with some of the
key consultants on titanium pigments,”
Burton said. “There’s various grades of
pigments and we want to produce the
best grade to give us the best market
sector. We’re also engaging with SMS
and their colleagues on this and we’re
very, very happy with the progress.”
TNG has also signed a strategic MoU
with Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Indus-
tries and Perth-based Energy Made
Clean, a subsidiary of ASX-listed Carn-
egie Clean Energy Ltd, to collaborate on
the promotion, development and growth
of the vanadium redox flow battery mar-
ket in Australia.
It comes after successful test work by
the company last year confirmed Mount
Peake could produce high purity, com-
mercial grade vanadium electrolyte us-
ing vanadium pentoxide from the project.
“We think vanadium storage batteries
Paul Burton Walabanba copper-lithium projects.
and had we not been a relatively small
company having to watch our cash very
carefully post GFC – which enabled us to
survive through that difficult period – we
would have loved to be in a position to do
a lot of work on these projects because
they have great, great potential.”
Burton and fellow TNG directors Geof-
frey Crow and Rex Turkington will sit on
the Todd River board, along with Eddie
Fry, who specialises in indigenous and
Native Title issues.
A search for a full-time chief execu-
tive to oversee the company’s work pro-
grammes is under way, with an appoint-
ment likely to be made later this quarter.
Todd River is expected to hit the
ground running upon completing its ASX
listing, with drilling programmes planned
for the Mount Hardy copper-zinc and
have a very big role to play in Australia
and we want to be part of that business
cycle,” Burton said.
“This is a huge value-add opportunity
we have here. We know we can supply
the critical vanadium electrolyte from our
TIVAN process.”
With the 10th anniversary of Mount
Peake’s discovery fast approaching, Bur-
ton said he was thankful his company
had taken a “cautious, step-by-step ap-
proach” towards developing a non-main-
stream project.
“Our company had a fairly steep learn-
ing curve early on and I think it’s fair to
say that the more work we did, the more
interest we got,” he said.
“This is a big project and we’re now at
the pointy end of it. If there are any minor
delays, I think everyone will be pretty ac-
cepting of that.”
– Michael Washbourne
“We have rigs in place ready to mo-
bilise and we also have access agree-
ments and approvals in place to get on
the ground,” Burton said.
“We should be expecting some posi-
tive news flow within weeks of listing.”
Other projects in the Todd River portfo-
lio include zinc opportunities at Manbar-
rum, Stokes Yard and McArthur River.
Burton said if positive forecasts for
base metals, particularly zinc and cop-
per, held true, it would ultimately justify
TNG’s decision to put these non-core
projects into a new vehicle.
“Everything is about timing and this
spin-off has been on the books for a cou-
ple of years,” Burton said.
“I do believe we’re moving into a rather
long, bullish base metals cycle. The rea-
sons we feel this is so is because follow-
ing the GFC and the relative collapses
of the zinc and copper prices, there just
hasn’t been the exploration dollars spent
looking for new deposits.
“What we’re seeing now is a result of
that. You’ve got depleted mines, you’ve
got no new mines coming on, so you’re
going to need a lot of exploration done
relatively quickly to find some more good
value deposits.”
– Michael Washbourne
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2017 PAGE 11