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 five-million tonnes a year.

Leaching, followed by selective iron and vanadium recoveryusing the TIVAN process, will be employed.

The proposed plant will comprise 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 has signed an agreement with Korean conglomerate Posco Engineering and Construction to help bring its flagship Mount Peake project, in the Northern Territory, to completion.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) provides for strategic cooperation to complete and deliver the definitive feasibility study (DFS) and to consider the award of the engineering, construction and development contract.

Under the MoU, Posco could also agree to assist in obtaining project financing through the Korean Export Credit Agency or Korean banks.

TNG MD Paul Burton says that the MoU with Posco is consistent with the company’s broader objective, which is to secure globally significant strategic and commodity partners to work alongside TNG in financing and developing its Mount Peake project.

The MoU with Posco follows the signing of an MoU with another Korean group, WOOJIN JIN. This MoU entails the two companies forming a strategic cooperation regarding offtake, marketing, technology exchange and other mutually beneficial agreements pertaining to vanadium and other products from the Mount Peake project.

The MoU with Posco is nonexclusive and there is the possibility that other global strategic partners could become involved in the project as TNG pursues its goal of creating the foundation to build a strategic metals house.

TNG is advancing a staged DFS on the Mount Peake project. The company is aiming to start construction by 2014, with first production and exports slated for 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.