The DFS is being conducted to undertake mining operations and to construct a concentrator and salt roast plant, potentially capable of initially producing 12,500tpa of V2O5 flake at an estimated capex of US$200 million.
The DFS is a natural progression of the pre-feasibility study (PFS) recently completed with the aim of producing a high purity (>98 per cent V2O5) vanadium product from primary run-of-mine mineralised material. As part of the DFS, a trial mining and bulk sampling campaign was initiated with the aim to extract fresh (unweathered) mineralised material from the project for the purposes of pilot plant metallurgical test campaigns.
As limited information was available on the oxidation state of the mineralised zones near surface (less than 6m from surface), the trial pit design was based on extracting the bulk sample from a depth of 10m, to ensure fresh unweathered ore is sampled. During pit preparation the main high grade mineralised zone was exposed at surface.
Fresh unweathered mineralised zones were exposed from a depth of 2-3m below surface, which was considerably shallower than originally anticipated and has resulted in no requirement to blast.
The significance of the above outcomes is that the weathered portion of the orebody has been found to be significantly lesser than anticipated. Additionally, high grade run-of-mine plant feed material can be exposed and mined close to surface, which will minimise upfront mine establishment requirements, and bulk sampling could be undertaken by mechanical means eliminating the requirement for blasting during the bulk sampling campaign.
Bulk sampling is expected to be completed during March 2022 with pilot plant test work to commence from April 2022.
The company's contractors have commenced with the geotechnical drilling on site. The geotechnical drilling will investigate the mechanical strength and properties of material down to approximately 70m below surface to provide data for mine design of the pit shells and benching prior to construction.
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