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BAtteRY MIneRALs

Premium opportunity

emerges for TMT

roduction of a premium iron-vanadium a potentially economic non-magnetic tails
Pproduct which has already caught the eye stream, TMT will look at incorporating dense
of one of China’s largest state-owned enter- media separation to achieve early rejection of
prises has opened a potential low-cost path to gangue and the mineralogy which led to the
development for Technology Metals Australia recent metallurgical findings.
Ltd (TMT) at its flagship Gabanintha vana- Drilling campaigns to provide open pit geo-
dium project in Western Australia. technical data and infill the current inferred
TMT has quickly turned its attention to resource at Yarrabubba, as well generating
fast-tracking development of the Yarrabubba additional samples for potential mini pilot test Gabanintha hosts a total resource of 137.2mt
satellite project (formerly known as Southern work, is also on the company’s near-term @ 0.9% vanadium pentoxide, including a high-
Tenement) after magnetic separation test agenda. grade portion of 75.1mt @ 1.1%
work confirmed the ability to produce a high- Sinosteel is expected to keep a close eye
grade, high-purity concentrate with weighted on the upcoming work programmes as TMT vanadium electrolyte production and a vana-
average grades of 64.3% iron and 1.71% va- looks to advance offtake and EPC negotia- dium redox flow battery manufacturing base
nadium pentoxide. tions with its new Chinese-backed partner to- in Australia.
On the back of those initial results – in- wards binding conditions. “It was a really key breakthrough announce-
cluding reported low levels of deleterious “It’s a really big tick from a validation point of ment for us because it demonstrates the pos-
elements which indicate scope for the Yarra- view when you have a group like that [Sinos- sibility to move into actual battery production,”
bubba material to be considered a Platts 65 teel] who recognises the potential quality of he said. “What ownership we have in that
premium product – Sinosteel Australia Pty Ltd the product you’re looking at generating…and chain we don’t quite know yet, but they’ve got
has entered into a non-binding LOI with TMT obviously the scope around potentially getting the IP around the battery side and we’ve got
to negotiate potential life-of-mine offtake and some EPC with them really helps to de-risk a fantastic high quality, high purity product so
an EPC contract. the build phase for the project,” Prentice said. we said let’s bring those two together.
Formal development studies on Yarrabub- “For us in the longer term, forming this “We’re targeting the Australian stationary
ba, about 10km south of the area at Gaban- relationship with Sinosteel Australia means storage market and it’s really a case of just
intha where TMT is looking to develop a 27.9 there’s probably some other options, as we watch this space.”
mlbpa vanadium operation, are now under progress into the vanadium project, that More recently, TMT was granted mining
way. haven’t really been fully explored as of yet. leases by the WA Department of Mines, In-
TMT has already flagged development of a We think that this is an excellent starting point dustry Regulation and Safety for the tene-
simple open pit at Yarrabubba with mined ore from which to launch.” ments concerning Gabanintha and Yarra-
to be fed into a proposed crushing, milling and Shares in TMT have quadrupled since bot- bubba. Both have initial terms of 21 years and
beneficiation circuit which would be located at toming out in April, beginning with news of a are supported by miscellaneous licences for
the Gabanintha site. maiden offtake deal which represented about the bore field and camp and general-purpose
According to TMT managing director Ian 16% of the forecast average annual produc- leases for mining infrastructure.
Prentice, such a concept reduces both the tion from Gabanintha, about 40km south-east Prentice said the award of those leases in
funding and development risk for the broader of Meekatharra. late August was a critical de-risking factor for
Gabanintha operation which currently has a CNMNC – a vanadium-focused subsidiary offshore investors, including potential offtake
$US318 million price tag. of China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co partners and project financiers.
“We’re looking at this as essentially being a Ltd – has committed to a three-year take-or- “There’s now a lot more comfort and cer-
starter project where we can get Yarrabubba pay minimum offtake quantity of 2,000 tpa tainty we can offer around the next steps,”
up for a relatively lower capital number versus (4.4 mlbpa) vanadium pentoxide. The agree- he said. “Whenever we’re talking to custom-
the vanadium project and start generating ment includes a possible three-year renewal ers and funders – whether it’s European,
some cash flow which really gives us a bit of option and scope to increase the offtake American or Chinese – they want to see the
leg up as far as developing the bigger vana- quantity, at CNMNC’s request. mining leases granted so it was a really key
dium project,” Prentice told Paydirt. TMT then signed a MoU with Big Pawer milestone for us.
“It’s relatively early days as far as the de- Electrical Technology Xiangyang Inc Co Ltd “The other key plank we’re working on post
velopment of this new project, but that initial for potential offtake within a range of 1,000- DFS is the environmental approvals. We
test work has certainly shown we’ve got op- 5,000 tpa on a take-or-pay basis. This and self-referred the project to the EPA back in
portunity to produce a very high grade, high the CNMNC deal are on top of a previously November 2018 based on the PFS…we’re
purity iron magnetite concentrate product. It’s announced MoU with Shaanxi Fengyuan now in the final stages of putting together the
something we’ve looked at previously and it’s Vanadium Technology Development Co Ltd document around the ERD and we’re aiming
only really down in this area where we can ac- for 3,000 tpa based on a five-year term with a to have that lodged with the EPA very early on
tually achieve those outstanding metallurgical five-year extension option. in the new year.”
results.” Prentice is particularly excited about the Culminating the plethora of work TMT has
Alongside the development studies on partnership with Big Pawer given it also sets put into the Gabanintha project over the last
Yarrabubba, including investigation around the foundation for a potential JV around future 12 months since the release of the DFS was a

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