Australian resource and mineral processing technology company TNG (ASX: TNG) has completed a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for its wholly-owned Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project in the Northern Territory.
The company’s in-house engineering team is now reviewing a front-end loading (FEL-3) report delivered in March by German metallurgical firm SMS Group, which focuses on deliverables from TNG’s proprietary TIVAN processing facility and associated plants in Darwin.
Deliverables include plant design basis; confirmatory testwork for all process stages; preliminary piping and instrumentation diagrams; major equipment lists and specifications; critical flaw analysis; and mechanical and electrical plumbing.
The FEL-3 report excludes the outcome of some validation testwork which was disrupted due to the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions on SMS’s workflow.
Best way forward
TNG and SMS will continue working to finalise the best way forward for the project delivery and development on a commercial proposal basis.
As part of this stage, any value-add work identified in the FEED study will be included in updated capital expenditures and an optimised project execution model and delivery strategy addressing challenges caused by travel limitations between Europe and Australia.
Significant milestone
TNG managing director Paul Burton said the FEED study was a significant milestone in the development of Mount Peake.
“This represents the culmination of a vast amount of work by people in Australia and Germany during a challenging and unprecedented global environment,” he said.
“The outcomes of the FEL-3 report and the FEED study will now be dovetailed into the most appropriate project delivery strategy as we move onto finalising permitting and project finance.”
Large undeveloped project
Mount Peake is one of the world’s largest undeveloped vanadium-titanium-iron projects and one of the most advanced currently at pre-development stage.
TNG plans to build a mine and beneficiation plant at the project site, 235 kilometres north of Alice Springs, and truck the concentrate 85km by road to the Alice Springs-Darwin railway where it will be transported to Darwin for further refining at the TIVAN plant at Middle Arm Precinct.
Earlier this year, Mount Peake was awarded federal major project status by industry, science and technology minister Karen Andrews in recognition of its significance to the nation’s economy.
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