Critical minerals company Tivan has secured a technology licence agreement with CSIRO to develop and commercialise the TIVAN+ critical minerals processing technology.
TIVAN+ is a minerals processing technology pathway exploring the extraction of vanadium from hard-rock orebodies with reduced environmental impacts.
The agreement will provide Tivan with an exclusive 20-year worldwide license – excluding India – for the use of CSIRO’s critical minerals processing intellectual property for vanadium recovery.
It will also underscore the use of innovative technology at the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct in the Northern Territory – where the technology will be developed.
“Tivan is driving a vanadium project that will demonstrate another exciting critical mineral now being developed here in the Northern Territory,” NT Mining Minister Nicole Manison said.
“The Middle Arm Precinct will be vital for this project and is this will help grow the green economy and deliver the technology we need for a greener, cleaner future.”
CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton echoed Manison’s sentiments.
“The technology is a vital piece in the puzzle in Australia’s renewable energy future and it will deliver long term community benefit, boosting the economy and supporting more jobs and opportunities for Australians,” he said.
“This is important, innovative, inventive work, creating new sovereign capability that harnesses the critical technologies Australian needs to transition to net zero.”
Both companies will also develop technology to facilitate the project’s pilot plant project as a precursor to future full-scale use of the technology. This will be done through a research services agreement.
“In March, the board of Tivan made the decision to integrate many years of research and development of the TIVAN+ critical minerals processing technology with independent technological advances that the mineral resources team at CSIRO had achieved,” Tivan executive chairman Grant Wilson said.
“Over the subsequent period, Tivan and CSIRO have been working together in close collaboration, rapidly advancing the resulting TIVAN+ technology pathway. Our partnership has been formalised today in binding form, aligning Tivan and CSIRO for the decades ahead.”
One of Australia’s 26 critical minerals, vanadium’s demand is expected to grow due to its increasing use in renewable energy storage systems like redox flow batteries.
Australia’s first commercial vanadium flow battery was completed in South Australia in June this year.
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