Emerging battery metals producer Neometals is edging closer to developing its vanadium recovery plant in Finland after government authorities granted an environmental permit for the operation. The company is planning a joint venture with private operator Critical Metals Ltd to recover the high-purity vanadium pentoxide from a by-product slag that is created during the steel-making process.
The permit authorises the production of approximately 9000 tonnes per annum of vanadium pentoxide.
Neometals joined forces with unlisted Scandinavian mineral development company Critical Metals in a 50-50 partnership to jointly evaluate the feasibility of constructing a recycling facility in Pori, Finland to process and recover high-purity vanadium pentoxide from slag generated by Scandinavian steel maker SSAB.
A 10-year slag supply agreement with SSAB provides the JV partners with access to at least 2 million tonnes of existing and future slag from SSAB steel mills in Sweden and Finland.
Interestingly, the vanadium grade at the SSAB stockpile in Sweden is about 4 per cent and roughly 3 per cent at the stockpiles in Finland making it one of the highest-grade vanadium feedstock sources in the world.
The duo has been fast-tracking a feasibility study into the vanadium recovery project, or “VRP1” that remains on track for completion in the December quarter 2022.
Under a recently completed engineering cost study, Neometals confirmed operating costs estimated under the study places the VRP1 project in the lowest quartile of the industry cost curve.
The project’s capital cost is likely to be $341 million for the construction of buildings, infrastructure and process plant and also includes initial treatment of 200,000 dry metric tonnes of slag per year through an operation at Tahkoluoto Port, near the City of Pori in Finland.
The company says its JV partner Critical Metals has appointed specialist Nordic investment bank, Aventum Partners, to lead the debt financing process. According to Neometals, initial feedback suggests there is strong backing for the project from several banks involved in the evaluation activities.
Neometals has developed a proprietary hydrometallurgical process to recover vanadium from steel slag, utilising conventional equipment and operating at atmospheric pressure and mild temperatures.
Earlier, pilot plant testing was completed in Perth, Western Australia and resulted in product purities of more than 99.5 per cent vanadium pentoxide, with maximum metallurgical recoveries greater than 75 per cent.
The vanadium market is predominantly driven by steel usage that accounts for 90 per cent of vanadium consumption. However, vanadium is finding increasing use in the energy storage sector which is driving demand for the critical metal ever higher.
China and Russia account for roughly 75 per cent of global vanadium production. Finland’s neighbour – Russia - supplies the bulk of Europe’s vanadium feedstock which clearly poses some questions in the current geopolitical environment. If that in mind Neometals’ vanadium recovery project looks to be strategically important for meeting increasing European demand for the critical metal.
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By Matt Birney
