Date: Aug 10, 2018
Vanadium and uranium producer Protean (ASX:POW) has signed a technology-transfer agreement (TTA) with the intention of increasing processing and production of vanadium at the company’s Daejon project in South Korea.
The deal, which was penned between the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) and Protean’s 50-percent owned subsidiary Stonehenge Korea, will give Protean access to the institute’s patents and intellectual property for processing of vanadium and uranium-bearing black shale at Daejon.
Currently, the Daejon project is Protean’s primary focus. Earlier this year, an updated resource estimate was released, which pegged the combined resource at 37.1 million tonnes at 3,000 parts per million (ppm) vanadium pentoxide (0.30 percent) and 120ppm uranium oxide (0.012 percent) for 248 million pounds (Mlbs) of vanadium (112,490 tonnes) and 10Mlbs of uranium (4,535t).
With access to the data from KIGAM, Protean is confident that the company will be able to save ample time and money that can in turn be invested into increasing production and output.
In addition to historical and seismic data, the TTA also permits Protean’s access to KIGAM’s purpose-built 1.2 tonne per day pilot plant 20 kilometers from the Daejon project area, offering an expedited low-cost opportunity to advance development work.
