Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX: AVL) has welcomed today’s launch of the Australian Government’s 10-year road map for the critical mineral industry.
AVL has a strong belief in the importance of adding value to minerals within Australia and keeping both the value and associated jobs in the country.
The company plans to process vanadium through to critical and battery mineral grade products at a coastal processing plant location in Western Australia.
VSUN to add further value
AVL’s 100%-owned subsidiary VSUN Energy will add further value and job creation through the manufacture of vanadium electrolyte for VRFBs, initially in Western Australia, with scaled-up production to be located near VRFB installations such as the 2MW/8MWh and 50MW/200MWh batteries planned for installation in South Australia.
VSUN Energy also installs and maintains VRFBs across Australia from its base in Perth. This growth industry provides the opportunity for further job creation and value addition to the vanadium mined by AVL in Western Australia.
Vanadium a critical mineral
Vanadium is classed as a critical mineral due to its use in alloyed steel which is needed for defence and aerospace applications.
It is also used in steel for the construction industry and its addition to this material results in an annual global carbon emission reduction that has been estimated as being equivalent to planting 260 million trees.
In the battery industry, vanadium is used in the Australian-invented vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) to provide a sustainable energy storage device with traits such as non-flammability and a long lifespan with no degradation in performance.
“In a strong position”
AVL’s managing director Vincent Algar said: “We have had a long-held belief in the importance of adding value to mined minerals here in Australia.
“The old ‘dig and ship’ mentality needs to change and having the support of Federal Government only helps companies such as AVL and VSUN Energy to achieve these goals.
“With our Major Project Status and contacts through Austrade, we are in a strong position to leverage the critical and battery mineral narrative, adding economic value for Australia through royalties, job creation and a positive impact on associated industries in Western Australia and across the country.”
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