Australian Vanadium Ltd’s (ASX:AVL) tests have demonstrated the potential to generate an iron and titanium rich calcine by-product from The Australian Vanadium Project proposed roast-leach process.
Potential sales of the calcine by-product could add significant additional revenue over the life of the project near Meekatharra in Western Australia.
Bench-scale test work on iron and titanium rich calcine has upgraded the calcine iron content to an average of 66% iron from 54%.
Calcine grading in excess of 62% iron could be sold into the global iron ore market.
Previously considered a tailings stream
The calcine was previously considered a tailings stream within The Australian Vanadium Project roast-leach process.
AVL’s chief operating officer Rodd Richardson said, “With the amount of iron and titanium rich calcine that’s forecast to be generated by The Australian Vanadium Project process, there is a big opportunity to unlock the value of this material.
“These indicative tests support a technical path to upgrade the material to be a valuable by-product.”
Shares up 21%
Shares have been up more than 21% to an intra-day high of 1.7 cents.
The test work is being carried out to establish whether AVL can upgrade the calcine from a lower grade iron concentrate with marginal commercial value to a higher grade, more commercial, iron product.
Samples of calcine material generated from pilot and bench-scale tests have been used for the test work.
As a result of this testing, work is now underway to physically separate a portion of the titanium, which will further upgrade the calcine material and improve its value.
Offtake negotiations
AVL is actively negotiating potential offtake agreements for the calcine product and vanadium produced from The Australian Vanadium Project.
By-product sales could have a positive impact on overall operating costs and, therefore, enhance the company’s goal to be one of the lowest-cost producers of vanadium in the world.