Critical minerals, Government announcements, News, Project approval

Green tick for emerging vanadium project

Whitehaven

WA Environment Minister Reece Whitby has granted ministerial approval to Australian Vanadium Limited’s (AVL) Gabanintha vanadium project under the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (WA).

The approval concerns the proposed implementation of Gabanintha into the Australian Vanadium project, one of the largest and highest-grade vanadium deposits being developed in the world.

The Australian Vanadium project proposes an open-cut mine and concentrator to be located at Gabanintha and a vanadium oxide processing plant at Tenindewa.

With approval under the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (WA) secured, AVL hopes to produce vanadium concentrates at the Gabanintha mine site and produce high-purity vanadium oxides and an iron concentrate co-product at the Tenindewa plant for export through the nearby Geraldton port.

“This approval marks a major milestone for the company, advancing the project towards construction and production while strengthening our confidence in securing the remaining approvals needed to move forward with the consolidated Australian vanadium project,” AVL chief executive officer Graham Arvidson said.

“We are grateful to the Government of Western Australia and Minister Whitby for their support in this critical approval for the project. We also reaffirm our commitment to building positive long-term relationships with all of our community stakeholders.”

AVL finalised its $217 million merger with Technology Metals Australia in February 2024 and is currently undertaking an optimised feasibility study (OFS) that aims to enable a single integrated project across a single 18km orebody.

The first phase of the OFS has been completed, delivering several key outcomes including an updated mineral resource estimate for Australian Vanadium, which now sits at 395.4 million tonnes (Mt) at 0.77 per cent vanadium oxide, with 105.4Mt at 1.12 per cent vanadium oxide falling under the measured or indicated categories – a 39 per cent increase from the previous MRE.

AVL is currently working on the OFS’ next phase, which includes finalising the detailed mining plan using the updated MRE, optimising project infrastructure, and completing the layout and key design criteria for the CMB plant at Gabanintha and processing plant at Tenindewa.

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