‘Clean cobalt’ windfall for Australian Vanadium

Australian Vanadium (ASX:AVL) has access to greater quantities of ‘clean cobalt’ after its partners upgraded its nickel-copper-cobalt resource at their shared project.

Bryah Resources (ASX:BYH), which holds the nickel, copper and gold rights over the Australian Vanadium Project at Gabanintha, Western Australia, has upgraded its resource by 119 per cent to 31.3 million tonnes grading 761 parts per million (ppm) nickel, 210ppm copper and 228ppm cobalt.

This includes a higher confidence indicated resource of 17.7Mt at 760ppm nickel, 205ppm copper and 229ppm cobalt, or 13,451t of contained nickel, 3,636t of contained copper and 4,055t of contained cobalt.

Here’s where it gets interesting for Australian Vanadium, which holds the vanadium, titanium, iron and cobalt rights.

The indicated resource is located within the high-grade vanadium zone within the three planned open pits of its namesake project, giving it access to a ‘clean cobalt’ resource that is in high demand for its use in lithium-ion batteries.

With most of the world’s cobalt supply coming from unethical sources, an ethically sourced supply of cobalt is likely to be welcomed by consumers keen to meet environmental, social and corporate governance requirements.

Processing teamwork

Australian Vanadium noted that metallurgical test work carried out during its feasibility study had found the nickel, copper, cobalt and gold present in the non-magnetic tail after separation of the vanadium-titanium-magnetite concentrate, can be processed to produce a base metal concentrate.

It is working with Bryah – which Australian Vanadium is a major shareholder (7.14 per cent) of – to maximise the recovery of minerals from the project with Bryah taking the lead on further studies relating to the base metal recovery circuit.

Meanwhile, Australian Vanadium will assist Bryah with samples from its non-magnetic tailings and also samples of drill core from its southern pit areas to progress further feasibility studies into the flotation of the sulphides.

This article was developed in collaboration with Australian Vanadium, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.