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- Manuka Resources (MKR) reports a maiden mineral resource of 3.2 billion tonnes at 0.05 per cent vanadium at its Taranaki VTM iron sand project in New Zealand
- The resource holds 1.6 million tonnes of contained vanadium pentoxide, making it one of the largest vanadium deposits globally
- Manuka has already secured a five million tonne per annum (Mtpa) mining license for the project, which has a proposed mine life of 20 years
- The company will now commission additional testwork to optimise its flowsheet for VTM processing
- MKR shares are down 2.56 per cent to 7.6 cents at market close on Wednesday
Manuka Resources (MKR) has reported a maiden mineral resource of 3.2 billion tonnes at 0.05 per cent vanadium at its Taranaki VTM iron sand project in New Zealand.
The resource holds 1.6 million tonnes of contained vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), making it one of the largest drilled vanadium deposits globally.
Manuka said that based on an assumed production rate of five million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of VTM concentrate, it was one of the largest aspiring producers of vanadium on the ASX.
The mineral resource follows Manuka’s acquisition of Trans-Tasman Resources, which owned the Taranaki project, in November 2022.
Around 65.7 per cent of the resource is in the ‘indicated’ category.
Manuka has already secured a five mtpa mining license for the project, which has a forecast initial mine life of 20 years. A bankable feasibility study for the project is already underway.
Manuka Resources will now commission additional metallurgical test work to optimise the flowsheet for processing of the VTM concentrate to confirm the economic recovery of vanadium as a separate product stream.
“The Taranaki VTM’s vast, low-cost titanomagnetite iron sands potential is well understood,” Manuka Executive Director Alan Eggers said.
“Despite an awareness of its vanadium potential, the vanadium resource had not previously been estimated.
“The recent completion of this work highlights a very large resource in terms of contained vanadium, making it a potentially-material V2O5 producer of world-scale.
“This new work on the two critical minerals, recoverable vanadium and titanium, confirms the potential to further enhance the project’s robust iron ore economics with the prospect of its estimated US$20 to $24 tonne iron ore concentrate production cost to be materially offset by substantial vanadium and titanium metal by-product credits.
“The completed PFS and initial BFS work have demonstrated a low-cost iron ore concentrate production operation with CO2 emissions generated per tonne of shipped concentrate less than half of other global iron ore concentrates.
“With concerns around the security of vanadium supply from key producing nations China, Russia, Brazil and South Africa underpinning rising prices, we expect the vanadium potential of Taranaki VTM, along with its green steel low carbon emissions profile, to be of huge interest to end users — hence vanadium’s critical mineral status in Australia, USA and the EU.”
MKR shares were down 2.56 per cent to 7.6 cents at market close on Wednesday.
