PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Australian Vanadium has successfully recovered cobalt, nickel and copper in a sulphide concentrate at its Gabanintha vanadium project, which the company said added another saleable battery metal opportunity to the flagship project.
The company successfully extracted sulphide concentrate containing up to 6.3% base metals from the non-magnetic tail produced.
“Since we initially identified this opportunity, we have been interested in its implications for the project,” said MD Vincent Algar on Tuesday.
“Adding a high-value battery focused metal to the product suite at Gabanintha could potentially prove an important revenue stream, further enabling Australian Vanadium’s Gabanintha project to be on the lowest end of the vanadium cost curve.”
Algar noted that preliminary design and costing for a sulphide recovery circuit has been added to the scope of the prefeasibility study.
While fellow listed Bryah Resources holds the rights to any nickel, copper and gold recovered from the project area, Australian Vanadium is still expected to benefit from this development in processing, owing to its 14% shareholding in Bryah.