PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Australian Vanadium and fellow listed Neometals will collaborate on critical minerals in Western Australia.

The two companies this week signed a term sheet to investigate opportunities for Australian Vanadium to purchase and further process vanadium and iron concentrate co-product from Neometals’ Barrambie project, and for the two companies to co-locate or share infrastructure near Australian Vanadium’s proposed Tenindewa processing plant.

“The Australian Vanadium project and Barrambie project are the most well understood and advanced vanadium titanium deposits in Australia. This collaboration will provide synergies, allowing the two projects to move forward even more confidently, using mutual understanding of the ores and processing,” said Australian Vanadium MD Vincent Algar.

“The Vanadium Triangle in the Midwest contains many remnants of the once massive Murchison Layered Intrusive Complex, a Bushveld Complex-sized intrusion which hosts a number of potentially economic vanadium titanium magnetite deposits. Being able to process our own concentrates and also offer processing infrastructure to other projects, will bring great benefit to the region and Australia as a whole and establish Australia as a cornerstone producer of vanadium products for green steel and energy storage applications.”

Algar said that Australian Vanadium was open to discussions with other companies in the region that see benefit in the hub approach that Australian Vanadium and Neometals are considering.

“We have developed a good relationship with the team at Neometals and Australian Titanium and look forward to finalising the details of this opportunity with them. The projects are well aligned and the technical knowledge held between the two teams will generate further opportunities for cost optimisation for all parties.”