Australian mining technology company TNG Limited has had its flagship Mount Peake Project, which includes production plans for vanadium redox flow batteries and green hydrogen, recognised as nationally signifiant.
Vanadium redox flow batteries are not new technology but have recently been rallying in popularity due to their different affordances from predominant lithium-ion storage solutions.
Granted Major Project Status by the Federal Government on Monday, TNG’s Northern Territory-based Mount Peake Vanadium-Titanium-Iron Project (Mount Peake Project) is the world’s most advanced vanadium project.
Owned entirely by Perth-based TNG, the Project is planned across two separate sites, including a mine and Beneficiation Plant located 235km north of Alice Springs and a processing facility in Darwin’s investment priority area, the Middle Arm Precinct.
These two facilities will see the project vertically integrated from production to market, with TNG describing the project as a “world class multi-commodity resource with in-country value adding.”
The Project is forecast to annually produce around 6,000 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide to be used for vanadium redox flow batteries and steel strengthening, as well as massive quantities of iron oxide and titanium pigment. This will be done through TNG’s patented TIVAN process, which the company says allows it to “overcome limitations of the conventional processing.”
The Mount Peake Project is expected to be a top-10 global producer.
Having last year established its own green-focused subsidiary, TNG Energy, the company is developing applications for Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs), which are not a new technology but have enjoyed a resurgence of attention as an energy storage solution driven by the fact VRFBs are non-flammable, offer virtually unlimited cycling without degradation and are easily scalable.
TNG are not the only Australian company vertically integrating its vanadium-based endeavours. In 2016, Australian Vanadium Limited set up subsidiary VSUN Energy to drive market demand for VRFBs and help raise capital needed to open its Western Australian vanadium mine. “It takes a lot of time to become an overnight success,” VSUN’s Business Development Manager, Samantha McGahan, told pv magazine Australia.
Yet with its flagship project recognised for being strategic significant by both the Federal and NT Governments, TNG’s Mount Peake Project is clearly leading Australia’s vanadium crusade.
The company is also keen to jump aboard the country’s green hydrogen craze. In September of 2020, TNG announced it will partner with German-based strategic engineering company, SMS Group, to develop carbon-neutral technology and produce green hydrogen. The agreement is part of the company’s bid to optimise its Mount Peake Project, TNG said at the time.
As it stands, TNG is currently progressing with its front-end engineering design (FEED) study, which is also being carried out with SMS Group. Once the final capital expenditure has been determined by the study, the company plans to deliver its Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) proposal.
TNG’s Managing Director and CEO, Paul Burton, said the Government’s recognition of the significance of project will help it with remaining approvals, adding that it “represents an important endorsement of the Project” as the company moves into the next stages of project financing.
“Mount Peake is a world-class project which is set to deliver critical minerals required for the growing demand from the renewable energy sectors from Australia to global markets for many decades to come. The award of Major Project Status by the Australian Federal Government is a testament to the substantial economic and social benefits expected to be delivered by the Project and its potential strategic significance to the Northern Territory and Australia in expanding and diversifying our critical minerals industry,” Burton said in the company’s ASX statement on Monday.
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