Australian Vanadium Limited (ASX: AVL, “the Company” or “AVL”) is pleased to announce progress on the work being undertaken by the Company to integrate the two adjoining projects located across one orebody, following the successful completion of its merger with Technology Metals Australia (TMT).1
KEY POINTS
Following the recent merger, metallurgical testwork confirms the trend of higher vanadium and iron concentrate grades towards the south of the combined project and supports further investigation of a commercial scale ilmenite product.Vanadium concentrate grades for Block 70 average up to 1.6% V2O5, consistent with the results from the Yarrabubba deposit (Block 80).Higher iron grade in concentrate averages greater than 60% for Block 70.Results suggest a high-grade project can be optimised across an unconstrained southern strike extent, with potential for increased economic benefits.
As part of the Optimised Feasibility Study (OFS) being conducted by AVL to inform the preferred project development pathway for the integrated project,1 work has progressed to maximise the possible economic return through access to the high-grade southern area of the orebody, which previously straddled the two projects. This work has included metallurgical testwork on parts of the orebody adjoining the Yarrabubba deposit.
CEO, Graham Arvidson comments, “This testwork bolsters our view that a long-life, high-grade integrated project at the southern areas of the combined project can be defined quickly based on historical work by removing the constraints from TMT’s previously landlocked Yarrabubba deposit and adding to it similar mineralisation within the historical AVL deposit. The team will use this testwork within the broader integration studies, with the aim of improving the economics of the project via reduced capital and operating costs. This has the potential to deliver a material increase in value for our shareholders.”
The combined project on one orebody is broken by several regional scale faults which split the deposit into a series of blocks. The Yarrabubba deposit has now become Block 80 of AVL’s combined deposit and abuts AVL’s Block 70 deposit (see Figure 1 above).
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