Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) has appointed Wood Minerals and Metals to undertake Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) services for the Australian Vanadium Project pyrometallurgical processing plant.
AVL chief executive officer Graham Arvidson said having collaborated with Wood for several years, the company was impressed by the high quality of technical work that the team had undertaken.
“Having someone who fully understands the pyrometallurgical requirements for vanadium processing is essential for a successful outcome,” he said.
“We are very pleased to be working with the Wood team on this ECI phase for the processing plant.”
Finalising design
The ECI process will run through the second quarter of the year and will involve the development of the design and execution strategy for the pelletisation and roasting area of the vanadium extraction process.
It will also revisit estimated capital and operating expenditures as well as update the materials take-off.
Once the process is completed, AVL will be able to identify and pre-qualify preferred vendors for the supply of key pyrometallurgical equipment as part of the process to expedite long lead time and critical equipment.
About the project
The Australian Vanadium Project is one of the most advanced vanadium projects being developed globally, with 239 million tonnes at 0.73% vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), containing a high-grade zone of 95.6 million tonnes at 1.07% V2O5.
It has an ore reserve of 30.9 million tonnes at 1.09% V2O5 comprising a proved reserve of 5 million tonnes at 1.11% and a probable reserve of 20.4 million tonnes at 1.07%, reported in compliance with the JORC Code 2012.
It is based on a high-grade vanadium-titanium-iron mineral resource in the Murchison Province of Western Australia, about 43 kilometres south of the mining town of Meekatharra and 740 kilometres northeast of Perth.
Open cut mining and a CMB will be located at the mine site and a vanadium pentoxide processing plant will be near the port city of Geraldton.
The project will produce a vanadium concentrate at the resource site and complete production of high-purity vanadium for the steel, titanium master alloy and energy storage markets, as well as an iron titanium (FeTi) coproduct for export through Geraldton, at its planned processing plant.
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