Australian Vanadium has lodged an application with Western Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority to build and operate a vanadium processing facility in the state’s Midwest region, in the City of Greater Geraldton.
The proposal includes a facility comprising of a processing plant, evaporation ponds, support facilities, heavy and light vehicle access roads, water production bores, reverse osmosis plant and ancillary office. The processing facility is expected to operate for at least 50 years.
The processing plant is expected to have a maximum production rate of 13,000 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide flake per annum and about 1.05 million tonnes of iron-titanium co-product.
The vanadium pentoxide will be packaged for transport to Fremantle Port for export, and the iron-titanium co-product will be bulk transported and exported via Geraldton Port.
The processing plant is within a development envelope of 838.4 hectares, which includes 300 hectares of disturbance, with clearing of up to 5 hectares of native vegetation. The haul road development envelope is 50.5 hectares.
The plant will service the Australian Vanadium Project located in Meekatharra, one of the most advanced vanadium projects currently being developed in the world. It was awarded Federal Major Project Status by the Australian Government in recognition of its national strategic significance and State Lead Agency Status by the Western Australian Government due to its importance as a battery and critical metal project.