[Ferro-Alloys.com] Achievement of Ultra-High Purity 99.9% Vanadium Product

ACHIEVEMENT OF ULTRA-HIGH PURITY 99.9%  VANADIUM PRODUCT  KEY POINTS
• Pilot  testwork  achieves  greater  than  99.9%  purity  vanadium  pentoxide  from  Australian Vanadium Project ore.

• Ultra-high  purity  flowsheet  provides  a  scalable  ‘bolt-on’  option  to  produce  ultra-high  purity vanadium oxides which demand a premium price.  

Australian Vanadium Limited (ASX: AVL, “the Company” or “AVL”) is pleased to announce that it has demonstrated  the  capability  to  produce  greater  than  99.9%  ultra-high  purity  vanadium  pentoxide  (V2O5)  at  pilot  scale,  using  AVL  ore.  These  results  confirm  a  processing  route  that  can  easily  be incorporated  into  the  AVL  flowsheet,  employing  well  known  processing  technology  that  can  be  readily scaled to meet market demand. 

Ultra-high  purity  vanadium  pentoxide  is  critical  in  applications  where  even  the  smallest  impurities  can  significantly  affect  performance,  such  as  the  chemical  industry  and  specialty  alloys  for  the  aerospace  industry,  including  defence.  These  growing  market  segments  demand  higher  purity  levels.  AVL  has  identified  the  importance  of  satisfying  this  expanding  market,  in  addition  to  other  steel and battery markets which can use the Company’s standard 99.5% purity level.1

CEO,  Graham  Arvidson,  comments,  “AVL’s ability to  produce  99.9%  ultra-high  purity  vanadium pentoxide,  in  addition to  our  99.5%  standard  high  purity  vanadium  pentoxide,  allows  us to  further  strengthen our competitive advantage in  specialised markets in which premium products  attract a  higher value.  “Our  distinct  advantage  as  a  business  continues  to  be  our  outstanding  technical  and  economic  vanadium  processing  acumen  and  I  commend  the  team  for  the  work  undertaken  to  create  and  substantiate  a  new  pathway  for  additional  value  creation.  Our  conviction  remains  that  vanadium  producers  who  can  achieve  the  highest  quality  vanadium  oxides  will  stand  above  the  rest  and  command the greatest and most enduring returns. In addition to our proposed world-class vanadium  project, our lowest quartile unit cost competitiveness strategy and our focus on product quality will  provide further long-term competitive advantages to the Company and superior investor return.

“We  have  been  pleased  to  work  with  the  team  at  ANSTO  and  for  the  support  that  the  Australian Government  has  provided  us  in  achieving  this  milestone.  Adding  value  to  vanadium  through  downstream processing in Australia aligns with the Federal Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy  2023-2030 and helps to keep the value of Australia’s minerals in the country as we transition to a  net zero future.”

The work undertaken to achieve ultra-high purity vanadium pentoxide was partly funded through a  $3.69  million  Australian  Government  Modern  Manufacturing  Initiative  Translation  grant  under  the National Manufacturing Priority Roadmap.2  AVL worked in conjunction with Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)  in Sydney to develop a feasible processing route. The pilot for producing ultra-high purity vanadium  pentoxide is the culmination of two years of work, exploring the most economic method for producing  this product. The pilot was designed and operated to simulate processing of a stream diverted from  the  leach  circuit  developed  in the  AVL  Bankable Feasibility  Study  (BFS) flowsheet.3  This  concept  allows for easy integration of an ultra-high purity process, in addition to the Company’s high purity  process, that can be scaled to match ultra-high purity demand.

The  feed  for  the  pilot  was  generated  during  AVL’s  pilot  beneficiation,4  pyrometallurgy5  and hydrometallurgy6  programs,  conducted  as  a  part  of  the  BFS  work  undertaken  in  2021.  The  feed  materials for this sequence of pilot programs comprised two composites of drill core, designed to be indicative of the average first five years of production and life of mine production.7

 Three composite samples of the final vanadium pentoxide product were taken during the course of  the pilot and submitted for assay in triplicate. A full analysis was performed at the Bureau Veritas  laboratory, using a combination of x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and laser ablation inductively coupled  plasma  mass  spectrometry  (LA-ICP-MS).  The  average  result  for  each  composite  is  found  in

• [Editor:tianyawei]