Technology Metals Releases PFS for Gabanintha Vanadium Project

Technology Metals Australia (ASX:TMT) released the results of a prefeasibility study for its wholly-owned Gabanintha vanadium project. The recently completed PFS indicates an estimated life of mine of 13 years.

According to the company press release, the PFS also confirms the project to be a high value, relatively low-risk and technically strong development opportunity for Technology Metals. As a result of the positive outcomes, the company’s board has agreed to proceed immediately with the commencement of a definitive feasibility study.

“This is an outstanding result for the technically robust, extremely high quality Gabanintha project in a vanadium market environment that is desperate for injection of new production, with considerable upside expected from the work to be completed during the upcoming definitive feasibility study,” said managing director Ian Prentice.

In addition, life of mine revenue was pegged at AU$4,935 million. The PFS mining and production schedule is based on the ore reserve of 16.7 million tonnes at a mined grade of 0.96 percent vanadium pentoxide contained (V2O5) within the currently defined indicated mineral resource of 21.6 million tonnes at 0.9 percent in the Northern Block of tenements.

In total, Gabanintha comprises a global indicated and inferred mineral resource of 119.9 million tonnes at 0.8 percent. The current agreed upon mine plan includes the development of two open pits to be called the North pit and the Main pit.

Technology Metals anticipates the project will begin in 2021, ramping up to an approximately 13,000 tonnes per year.  The company expects to create a high purity (+99 percent) V2O5 operation with a rapid capital payback of slightly over three years.

The low risk of this Western Australia-based project allows the assumption of a discount rate of 10 percent providing an anticipated pre-tax net present value in the region of AU$1,277 million, the company added.

The price of vanadium has remained steady, sitting at US$15.15 on Thursday (June 21). Meanwhile, shares of Technology Metals closed down 14.44 percent in Sydney at AU$0.38.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.