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triggered the strategic Federal and Northern Territory govern- as well because the land we had up in Dar-
review and the decision ments and the TIVAN processing pathway win…one of the things that arose during our
to relocate the refinery has become globally recognised such that environmental work was that the Middle
closer to the heart of the TNG has secured binding offtake agree- Arm precinct, the NT Government wanted
proposed operation. ments for all of its proposed output. it to be a gas hub, and we didn’t really fit
“When we looked at Burton said the decision to relocate the into that…but the green hydrogen certainly
all the figures for the TIVAN facility had the support of its key does,” he said.
Mount Peake operation, backers, including project financiers and “We’re hoping that land we did have re-
although it’s not without advisors. served for us will remain for us, we should
its challenges, it certainly “This decision wasn’t taken lightly, we did know about that in the very near future. And
gave us very strong eco- canvass everybody that was potentially im- certainly, the green hydrogen is a good as-
nomics because we can pacted or involved with this,” he said. pect for Mount Peake as well because all
have an integrated plant,” “COVID has a lot to play in this as well. companies and all boards need to make
Burton said. “We don’t There’s always a silver lining in lots of these careful decisions on the operations they
have to double up build- things and I think [SMS] recognised that want to put in, certainly long-term ones like
ings in two different loca- they needed to have some ability to stretch ours, taking into account the net zero tar-
tions and we don’t have a their arm into Australia, but they couldn’t gets of some countries. We’re fully behind
great big logistical issue with the restrictions, etc…so having Clough that, and that’s what we’re looking to put in
between the mine site on board works well because there’s al- place here initially.”
and the processing plant ready a lot of trust between the two. TNG previously spun out a package of
anymore. “KfW are very aligned, it doesn’t change non-core assets into Todd River Resourc-
“There was really no their focus on the funding…so I think it’s es Ltd (see page 68) in 2016 and Burton
better option and now is actually a much better outcome overall be- said the company has already discussed
the right time to do this, cause it allows a bit more control from our doing the same with TNG Energy at the ap-
as opposed to trying to perspective to decide on how this layout propriate time.
cover everything else in will be and how the operation will eventu- “It’s too early days, but we’ll see how it de-
Darwin, which could po- ally swing into production.” velops,” he said. “Often with these things, if
tentially have dragged TNG continues to push ahead with other you do keep them in the parent company,
on to the detriment of the aspects of its business, including the devel- sometimes you don’t realise the full value
project. This certainly opment of a dedicated vanadium electro- for shareholders and so a spin-out would
gives us a clearer path- lyte facility. Perth-based METS Engineer- be one way that we could. I certainly think
ing was recently appointed to it could be big enough – the green hydro-
undertake a process and de- gen aspect and indeed the vanadium elec-
sign study for the company’s trolyte battery business – to stand on their
emerging vanadium redox flow own two feet, as opposed to a mining and
battery (VRFB) strategy. processing operation, which will be huge in
Burton said while the VRFB its own right.”
business unit was separate Having been with TNG since the discov-
to the main Mount Peake op- ery of Mount Peake, Burton sometimes
eration, there was still a lot of wonders what life would be like if the com-
crossover and further investi- pany had attempted to fast-track a vana-
gation required into how best dium production option in the early years.
Binding offtake agreements have been secured for to take advantage of this grow- However, with hindsight firmly in view, he
TNG’s suite of vanadium, titanium and iron products ing market opportunity. still believes there is so much more to roll
“What we wanted was an in- out.
way and timeframe to get into production.” dependent engineering group to come up “The project has grown dramatically
TNG has appointed Clough Projects with the full feasibility study on batteries, since we first made the discovery and start-
Australia Pty Ltd to develop and prepare types of batteries, what the capital costs ed to see what was feasible, and the other
a consolidated plant layout for the fully in- and the operating costs would be, based aspects of electrolyte batteries and those
tegrated operation at Mount Peake. The on the premise that we’ll be producing our things that weren’t really considered at that
experienced engineering firm is expected own vanadium electrolyte,” he said. time, they’ve come more to the fore with all
to work closely with German-based SMS “That information is with METS now and of the alternative energy discussions that
Group which completed the recent FEED they will provide us with the full breakdown have started, which I think has been a very
study. in detail for us to then go and either get positive thing for the project,” Burton said.
Clough previously contributed to the some available government funding to put “I think one of the things that I can say
DFS for the project and Burton indicated this into place, or we expand on what we for sure is I had never ever considered that
the revived relationship could even extend currently have in place with a Singaporean it would take this long to get this particular
beyond this contract. group called V-Flow Tech.” project into operation. However, despite all
“We don’t rule out the possibility that Earlier this year the company estab- the work that’s been done, had we gone
Clough will be further engaged as we move lished a new green-focused subsidiary, into operation a lot earlier, I think we would
into development,” he said. “They certainly TNG Energy Pty Ltd, to house the VRFB be missing out on what’s now happening in
have the capacity to build big projects and business unit and potential opportunities in the industry where you must start cutting
it’s great for us to be realigned with them.” the emerging hydrogen scene. down on your carbon footprint and various
SMS has been the major contributor Burton said the proposed hydrogen strat- other things. It’s definitely all going to be
to Mount Peake’s emergence as a future egy had somewhat naturally come to the beneficial for the operation in the long run.”
long-term supplier of an eclectic suite of fore alongside the development plans for – Michael Washbourne
vanadium, titanium and iron products. Ma- Mount Peake.
jor Project Status was bestowed by both “It has come to the fore at the right time

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