Technology Metals shows it can produce high purity vanadium

Special report: Technology Metals Australia has proven its Gabanintha project can produce a high purity vanadium pentoxide product of over 99 per cent using low-cost conventional processing methods.

Benchmark vanadium pentoxide pricing is based on a 98 per cent purity product. The high purity of product at Technology Metals’ (ASX:TMT) Gabanintha project may enable it to receive premium pricing.

Downstream processing testwork focused on the extraction of vanadium pentoxide from magnetic concentrates utilising conventional salt roast/water leach processing, confirming that the processing route can deliver a high purity vanadium product at Gabanintha.

Previous testwork has definitively shown that magnetic concentrates produced from all zones of the massive magnetite and the fresh disseminated magnetite are amenable to this conventional processing route.

Managing director Ian Prentice said the outcome confirms the “extremely high quality of the Gabanintha vanadium deposit and the scope to deliver a premium product direct from the mine gate”.

Come June, Technology Metals will be one of only a few ASX-listed companies that will have completed a full pre-feasibility study on an Australian vanadium project, placing it ahead of the majority of its peers.

The company’s main focus is its Gabanintha vanadium project in the mid-west region of Western Australia — said to be one of the highest-grade vanadium deposits in the world.

Technology Metals aims to supply high-quality vanadium to steel producers and the emerging market for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRBs).

VRBs are rechargeable flow batteries that use vanadium in different oxidation states to store energy. They can store more power and discharge it over a much longer period than lithium-ion batteries, making them ideal for grid-scale energy storage.

Chinese interest in foreign vanadium producers is increasing as the crackdown on domestic pollution begins to take a toll on local mineral processing.

The price of vanadium has rocketed 550 per cent in the past three years, outpacing other commodities.

Vanadium pentoxide prices have rallied further this year to over $US14 ($18.49) per pound from a low of less than $US4 per pound in early 2017.

While global economic growth and increased intensity of use of vanadium in steel in developing countries will drive near-term growth in demand, VRBs will be the big driver of demand in the coming years.

Pure play vanadium producer Bushveld Minerals estimates VRBs could account for 20 per cent of global consumption by 2030 – up from 2 per cent in 2016.

Technology Metals is now undertaking testwork on larger composite samples to generate final product for end users.

This special report is brought to you by Technology Metals Australia.

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