How King River Resources (ASX:KRR) is advancing Speewah vanadium project - Kalkine Media

Highlights:

• Vanadium is experiencing increased demand for deployment in vanadium redox flow batteries
• The metal is also used in many sophisticated and new-age technologies like jet engines and 3D printing
• King River (ASX:KRR) has framed a conceptual development plan for its Kimberley-located Speewah vanadium project
• The plan is based on the large deposit size of vanadium and the company’s capability of processing high- and low-grade deposits

Vanadium, which has been included in the list of critical minerals by the US, Australia, and many European countries, has been the talk of the town, thanks to its application in vanadium redox flow VRFBs batteries (VRFBs) and the conventional steel and alloy-making sector.  

VRFBs: a safe and sustainable alternative to li-ion batteries

VRFBs, which hold major merits over their counterparts in the storage and grid-relief capacities, are forecast to represent between 15–25% of the total battery capacity by 2025, suggest government reports.

Some of the advantages that VRFBs hold over other contemporary technologies are:

• Ease of capacity building
• Long lifetime: greater than 20 years
• Safe and reliable: non-flammable, non-toxic, experiences no performance loss in harsh conditions
• Efficient and sustainable: Lower emissions, lower energy cost

Global demand forecast: increased demand backed by new-age technologies

Metal has been an inseparable part of the steel and alloy industry. Even sophisticated areas and new-age technologies like jet engines and 3D printing, etc., deploy this material.   

The high utility of vanadium and the below-mentioned factors are responsible for its critical element status in the US, Australia, and major European countries.

• The major supply of vanadium comes from China and Russia (China: 60% and Russia: 25%). Resurge in COVID-19 cases in China, and the Russia-Ukraine war has caused a gloomy supply chain situation for the metal.
• The total reliance of Europe and the US on exports of vanadium.
• The increase in demand due to the use of vanadium in mass electricity storage batteries.

King River Resources: developing Speewah Vanadium Project

ASX-listed Australian company King River Resources Limited (ASX:KRR) is focused on developing its Western Australia vanadium asset, Speewah in the Kimberley region. The company is currently working on the conceptual development plan for a high-grade magnetite concentrate for export from the project.

KRR highlights that the plan inculcates an open-cut mining campaign that the company plans to be scaled at 5 million tonnes per annum of feed to an on-site facility for processing.

The company also highlighted that the salt and reduction roast methodology could be used to refine concentrates for titanium dioxide, vanadium pentoxide, and iron co-products.

KRR's key developments that support the strategy mentioned above are:

Resource: large deposit size supporting the plan for a potentially long mine life

As per the company, based on its tonnage and vanadium pentoxide content, Speewah is among Australia’s largest vanadium-in-magnetite deposits.

The deposit’s measured, indicated, and inferred mineral resource stands at 4,712 million tonnes at 0.3% vanadium pentoxide, 3.3% titanium dioxide_, and 14.7% iron (reported at a cut-off grade of 0.23% vanadium pentoxide from three deposits, namely, Red Hill, Buckman, and Central).

Fresh, near-surface rock: signalling open-cut mining operation

The company plans to opt for an open-cut mining operation based on the characteristics of the central vanadium deposit. The deposit outcrops fresh rock from shallow subsurface containing shallow dipping geometry with a strip ratio of 0.4.

High-grade concentrate production from different input feeds

The company is looking to undertake processes including crushing, grinding, and magnetic separation for the material from the Central Vanadium deposit's high-grade (HG) zone for high-grade vanadium-bearing magnetite concentrate production.

The company highlights the capabilities of its beneficiation process for producing a magnetite concentrate with grades ranging between 2.15-2.64% vanadium pentoxide. The grades are higher as compared to other vanadium deposits in the country.

On the other hand, based on the low in situ grade of 0.3-0.4% vanadium pentoxide, a larger volume of disseminated magnetite gabbro feed needs to be beneficiated for magnetite concentrate production.

With the development of its project, King River is eyeing to tap the opportunities in battery metals and master alloy compounds amid growing green economy focus.

KRR shares were trading at AU$0.012 in the early hours of 13 January 2023.