Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) has signed an MOU with UK-based GSA Environmental Ltd (GSAe) for commercial and technical collaboration with the aim of value-adding to AVL’s namesake project through additional vanadium sources and economies of scale.
GSAe is an engineering company with unique intellectual property in the extraction of vanadium, nickel and other metals from hard-to-process by-product material.
It has multi-disciplined and extensive expertise across a range of industry sectors including oil and gas processing and refining, petrochemicals and renewables.
The MOU will see both parties collaborate to evaluate feedstock that has the capability to improve the economics of the Australian Vanadium Project near Gabanintha in WA.
With a number of by-products containing vanadium, such as fly ash, slags and petcoke slags, AVL’s world-class vanadium team in conjunction with staff from GSAe will collaborate and partner to investigate the commercial opportunities and possible economies offered by incorporating alternative vanadium units into the processing plant.
Petcoke stockpiles.
Unique metal extraction skills
Managing director Vincent Algar said: “AVL and GSAe have developed a strong relationship through previous interactions and common interest in the environment and vanadium redox flow battery chemistry and technology.
“Teaming up the vanadium processing expertise in AVL with GSAe’s unique clean environment and metal extraction skills will allow us to deliver further improvements and positive investor outcomes for AVL shareholders and other stakeholders.”
The MOU is for a two-year initial term with an option to extend by mutual agreement.
It can be terminated by either party if an offtake agreement with a supplier is not concluded by the end of the term and provides the basis for the two companies to enter into a commercial agreement for use of GSAe’s proprietary technology and technologies developed between AVL and GSAe.
Towards BFS completion
AVL is advancing the Australian Vanadium Project towards completion of a bankable feasibility study in mid-2021, strongly focused on the project’s ability to become the lowest cost primary vanadium producer.
The project is currently one of the highest-grade vanadium projects being advanced globally with a JORC-compliant resource of 208.2 million tonnes at 0.74% vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), containing a high-grade zone of 87.9 million tonnes at 1.06% V2O5.
It has an ore reserve of 18.24 million tonnes at 1.04% V2O5 comprised of a proved reserve of 9.82 million tonnes at 1.07% and a probable reserve of 8.42 million tonnes at 1.01%.