Australian Vanadium advances eponymous vanadium pentoxide and ferrotitanium project with BFS

Australian Vanadium advances eponymous vanadium pentoxide and ferrotitanium project with BFS

ASX-listed Australian Vanadium published a BFS this week, positioning it as one of the most advanced projects in the vanadium space.  

Blue View

The BFS for the Australian Vanadium project envisages CAPEX of US$435M to produce 11,200t (6,272tpy) of high-purity vanadium pentoxide flake and 900ktpy ferrotitanium coproduct.  Capital costs are, therefore, higher than envisaged in a 2020 PFS, and average annual C1 and C3 cost estimates have also increased.  While there are lower-cost vanadium projects out there, Australian Vanadium benefits from a large resource, high grade and solid production capacity compared to many other advanced projects. 

Next steps include regulatory approvals with an investment decision planned for Q4 2022.  The project having already received a US$36M grant from the Australian Government to support the project to production, bodes well for further regulatory approvals being granted.  The vanadium market is set to continue its growth trajectory, and while more output is expected from existing primary producers, co-producers and secondary sources, several new projects will need to enter production over the coming decade if supply is to meet demand.