Car battery market gives impetus to revived vanadium project
By Karen Hunt
Monday, 21/02/2011
A $335 million cash injection means the long-delayed Windimurra vanadiumproject in Western Australia's mid-west is finally approachingcompletion.
And that means job and business opportunities.
The Windimurra is located 600 kilometres north of Perth, near Mt Magnet,and during the 2009 global financial crisis, it was placed inreceivership by its previous owners, Xstrata.
Vanadium plays an important part in the steel-making process, although anew market is also emerging in the manufacture of batteries forelectric cars.
Michael Minosora, the managing director of Windimurra's latest owner,Atlantic Resources, says he's excited about this new market.
"What we refer to as the chemical market is just starting to emerge andover time it will grow, there's no doubt about that," he said.
"It's just a question of timeframes, but for the foreseeable future, the steel industry will be the biggest user of vanadium."