In Townsend . Whattttt . Read on .
The Queensland government plans to build and own a new vanadium processing plant in the northeastern coastal city of Townsville in a bid to start local production and get small operations off the ground. Vanadium is a key resource for the burgeoning flow battery market and is also drawing increased attention as a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries. “Australia has the world’s third largest deposits of vanadium resources, but right now we don’t produce a single kilogram of processed vanadium,”
Queensland’s Minister for Resources and Member for Townsville, Scott Stewart, said his department would go to market in the new year for detailed engineering assessments and costings for the plant, for which the state government would front at least $10 million from its $520 million Invested in Queensland program. The final investment amount though will depend on the outcome of the construction tender.
The government said it is in the final stages of site selection within Townville, and expects construction to start in 2022, with the plant scheduled to begin operating in 2023. The facility is part of what the Palaszczuk government described as its push for the state to become a leading producer and exporter of “new-economy minerals” and “the home of new industries.”
In September, the state government announced it had given the go-ahead to its first vanadium mine, Multicom Resources’s $250 million Saint Elmo mine near Julia Creek, in the state’s north west. The Saint Elmo mine is forecast to initially produce up to 5,000 tonnes per annum of vanadium pentoxide, eventually scaling to 20,000 tonnes per annum.