PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed TNG has inked a project facilitation agreement (PFA) with the Northern Territory government over the proposed location for its Tivan metals refinery, which will form part of its Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project.

The PFA is a key agreement that will ensure a “whole-of-government” approach is adopted in developing the project, including facilitating the necessary environmental and planning approvals, and provision of land and port access.

TNG on Thursday said the company is undertaking a range of technical, engineering and environmental studies to fully assess the proposed Darwin site prior to making a final investment decision.

The proposed Tivan refinery will produce high-purity products from the Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron deposit, located some 235 km north-west of Alice Springs. The company expects the refinery to produce around 17 560 t/y of vanadium pentoxide, 236 000 t/y of titanium dioxide and 637 000 t/y of iron for export.

TNG MD Paul Burton told shareholders that the signing of the PFA marked another exciting milestone for the Mount Peake project.

“The project has already been awarded Major Project status in the Northern Territory, and this agreement is a further indication of the proactive and positive approach which the Northern Territory government is adopting to help facilitate the development of this major new Australian resource project.”

Burton said the Tivan refinery was a key component to the overall project production and logistics chain, which would see the application of state-of-the-art processing technology to cost-effectively extract high-value vanadium, titanium and iron from the Mount Peake deposit and produce high-purity metals for export.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said some 1 700 construction jobs and a further 600 ongoing jobs could be created with the signing of the PFA.

“This is an A$850-million project with the potential for 500 jobs during construction and more than 200 jobs during operation of the mine, plus more than 1 200 jobs during construction and 400 jobs during operation of the refinery,” Gunner said.