Name and Location
Mount Peake vanadium/titanium/iron project, Northern Territory, Australia.

Client
TNG.

Project Description
Mount Peake comprises a large strategic measured, indicated and inferred resource of about 160-million tonnes of magnetite-hosted vanadium, titanium and iron.

The prefeasibility study envisages the construction of a processing plant, with an initial capacity of 2.5-million tonnes a year, increasing to 5-million tonnes a year.

The process to be employed involves leaching, followed by the selective recovery of iron and vanadium using the TIVAN process.

The proposed plant will be divided into eight major processing areas – crushing, grinding and beneficiation, leaching, titanium beneficiation, solvent extraction, acid regeneration, tailings disposal and vanadium precipitation.

Total metal production is estimated at 245 000 t of vanadium, 20.3-million tonnes of iron and 6.5-million tonnes of titanium.

Value
The total cost of the project is estimated at A$715-million, including A$563-million for the initial 2.5-million-tonne-a-year plant and A$122-million for the expansion to five-million tonnes a year.

Duration
TNG aims to start construction in 2014, with production and exports proposed to start in 2015.

Latest Developments
TNG is assessing the viability of a staged development of the Mount Peake project, as part of an ongoing definitive feasibility study (DFS).

Preliminary reviews indicate that substantial revenues could be generated from a low capital start-up development, producing a magnetite concentrate.

The reviews were conducted to consider the feasibility of early cash flow from a magnetite concentrate, which will be produced on site and shipped to a steel mill, in China.

The review concluded that revenues could be generated from a Stage 1 development, together with a lower capital expenditure estimate of A$230-million for the on-site beneficiation of crushing and magnetic separation to produce the concentrate.

Comparisons were based on a five-million-tonne-a-year and a ten-million-tonne-a-year mining rate using current and forecast ferrovanadium prices. At five-million tonnes, yearly revenues were estimated at between A$40-million and A$84-million, while the ten-million-tonne operation would generate revenue of between A$100-million to A$200-million.

Stage 2 of the project will involve the magnetite concentrate going straight to the TIVAN process, once commissioned, for the higher-value and higher-purity iron, vanadium and titanium oxide production.

The potential for a staged development approach is a positive development for the Mount Peake project, with the company intending to “vigorously” pursue the opportunity, says MD Paul Burton.

The DFS on the Mount Peake project is expected in the fourth quarter of this year, with construction slated to start in 2014, and first production and exports expected in 2015.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Arccon Mining Services (DFS) and GHD (environmental-impact study).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
TNG, tel +61 8 9327 0900, fax +61 8 9327 0901 email corporate@tngltd.com.au.
Arccon Mining Services, tel +61 8 9340 6100, fax +61 8 9340 6150 or email mining@arccon.com.au.