Shares in Australian Vanadium (ASX: AVL) closed up 40% on Wednesday after the miner announced that it had been awarded a $49 million competitive grant from the Australian Government for the development of its namesake Project in Western Australia.
The funding, which falls under the government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative Collaboration Stream, is designed to help the project to develop new critical mineral production through the establishment of an integrated onshore Australian vanadium supply chain for steel and battery markets.
The funds will also support the development of the Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) market, including vanadium electrolyte and battery project development for downstream vanadium use.
Speaking on the update, Australian Vanadium Managing Director Vincent Algar said: “AVL is delighted to have been awarded this grant from the Australian Government. Our project will create hundreds of jobs in Australia and help to build the critical vanadium industry both locally and internationally. We have developed an innovative and collaborative approach to building a fully integrated project, from mine through to processing and end use in the steel and battery markets.
“Our project will create hundreds of jobs in Australia and help to build the critical vanadium industry both locally and internationally”
Our collaborations are allowing us to build a project with unique social and environmental benefits. We look forward to working with our partners to bring the Australian Vanadium Project into production and further develop downstream opportunities for green steel and the vanadium redox flow battery market.”
Vanadium is a critical input for VRFBs, specialty chemicals, aerospace, and defence, and is on the critical metal list in many countries, including Australia, the United States, Japan, and many European countries.
There are currently no operating vanadium mines in Australia, despite having the third-largest economic vanadium reserves globally.
The company notes that it is collaborating with ATCO (TSE: ACO.X) to incorporate green hydrogen into the project, which will fuel the processing of vanadium to a >99.9% pure V₂O₅ product, suitable for the critical mineral and battery markets.
AVL also intends to work with Bryah Resources (ASX:BYH) to explore an opportunity to process mineral resources from a tailings stream at the project, which contains sulphides, cobalt, nickel, copper and gold.
The Australian Vanadium Project is one of the most advanced vanadium projects currently in development globally, with a JORC-2012-compliant mineral resource of 239Mt @ 0.73% vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅), containing a high-grade zone of 95.6Mt at 1.07% V₂O₅.
The project has received Major Project Status from the Australian Government and Lead Agency Status from the Government of Western Australia.
The Company said that it is working with the Australian Government to finalise terms and conditions for the grant.
