Surefire Resources’global battery metals business ambitions have been boosted by a breakthrough in the process of extracting vanadium directly from magnetite concentrate out of its 100%-owned flagship Victory Bore project in Western Australia.
The test work process achieved a 91% extraction result on the Victory Bore vanadium ore after a 96-hour leach directly from magnetite concentrate using Surefire’s pre-leach treatment intellectual property.
The company also obtained a bonus extraction rate of 88% titanium from the Victory Bore ore.
The leach process was applied to pre-treated concentrate allowing it to effectively scavenge vanadium.
Surefire is working with METS Engineering, who the company appointed in May 2023 to undertake an assessment of potential for recovery of a high purity vanadium oxide in liquid form.
Emerging space
The company is targeting the emerging vanadium battery sector in Australasia with a clean, high-purity vanadium electrolyte.
The direct leaching test work program designed and established by the METS team involved four separate hydro-chemical tests carried out on pre-treated magnetite concentrate (PTMC).
The successful process is an adaptation of several commercially-scalable processes used within the mineral resource industry and involves leaching under certain conditions of the PTMC.
Saudi Arabian partnership
In mid-January, Surefire executed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ajlan & Bros Holding, a highly-respected Saudi firm with leading mining, processing, manufacturing and development capabilities in Saudi Arabia and internationally.
This vehicle was established to invest in a diversified portfolio of projects across Saudi Arabia’s key economic growth sectors as part of the kingdom’s VISION 2030.
The signing of the MOU with Ajlan is part of the company’s business development plan to have a Saudi partner to jointly progress a feasible development pathway and take advantage of the incentives available in Saudi Arabia for resource projects.
Surefire has identified Saudi Arabia as a low-cost power and utilities jurisdiction that can provide the company with significant operating cost advantages and has significant funding incentives available of up to 75% of capital expenditure for mineral processing projects.
Positive PFS results
This new agreement follows the signing of a 2023 MOU with the Ministry of Investment Saudi Arabia for downstream processing of vanadium from Victory Bore and outstanding pre-feasibility study (PFS) results from the project.
The Victory Bore PFS confirmed a viable project producing approximately 1.25 million tonnes per year of high-quality vanadium-titanium magnetite concentrate at the mine site north of the WA port of Geraldton.
The project will also produce up to six products from that concentrate in Saudi Arabia including 2,580tpa of high-purity vanadium and 5,760tpa of ferrovanadium.
Surefire also reported an updated measured, indicated and inferred mineral resource of 465Mt at 0.30% vanadium oxide, 5.1% titanium dioxide and 17.7% iron.
Moving to PFS status also included the release of a maiden probable ore reserve of 93Mt at 0.35% vanadium oxide, 5.2% titanium dioxide and 19.8% iron.
