MINING company Australian Vanadium Limited has announced an agreement with Mid West Ports Authority for the future use of facilities and services at Geraldton Port for its Australian Vanadium Project.
The project is one of the most advanced vanadium projects being developed globally, based on a high-grade V-Ti-Fe mineral resource located in the Murchison Province around 43 kilometres south of Meekatharra in Western Australia and 740 kilometres north-east of Perth.
The project will produce a vanadium concentrate at the resource site and complete production of a high purity vanadium and an iron titanium (FeTi) coproduct at a processing plant located near Geraldton.
The project will ship around 900,000 dry tonnes per annum of FeTi co-product through the Port of Geraldton for the 25-year life of the project.
MWPA is actively planning for future growth of the port facilities and AVL will become a key long-term partner in the port’s proposed expanded capabilities.
AVL is in discussions to secure multiple offtake agreements for this FeTi coproduct, primarily used in blast furnace applications. In November 2021, AVL signed its first letter of intent for sale of the product to Shenglong Metallurgy International in Hong Kong, the commercial arm of Guangxi Shenglong Metallurgy Co Ltd.
The Port of Geraldton will also be used as a receiving port for AVL’s processing reagents and large breakbulk equipment needed for the processing plant and crushing, milling and beneficiation plant at Meekatharra. It will also enable the company to import renewable energy hardware for both project sites.
AVL managing director, Vincent Algar said, “Having confidence that Mid West Ports Authority will be able to directly accommodate our requirements is another big step in our pathway to production.
“Improving confidence levels in our costings and providing necessary assurances for future access and communication is a major benefit as we finalise our BFS and move towards approvals and funding.”
Acting MWPA CEO, Damian Tully said, “We look forward to working with Australian Vanadium to develop the export and import capacity at Mid West Ports to facilitate their trade requirements.
“This is an exciting project for the Mid West and we look forward to playing a key role in its future development”.
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