Name and Location
Gabanintha high-grade vanadium project, Australia.

Client
Yellow Rock Resources.

Project Description
Gabanintha, located in Western Australia's Murchison district, has one of the highest-grade vanadium deposits in the world, with an indicated and inferred resource of 60.4-million tonnes grading 0.98% vanadium oxide (V₂O₅), 11.4% titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and 42.15% iron.

The project also hosts a separate upper disseminated zone, with indicated and inferred resource of 125.8-million tonnes at 0.7% V₂O₅, 8.64% TiO₂ and 32.6% iron.

A concept engineering study has indicated that the Gabanintha deposit could support a significant vanadium mine for more than 20 years.

It highlights the technical and economic potential of the deposit to support an openpit mining and processing operation to produce V₂O₅.

Currently, the best option for a commercially attractive operating and capital cost combination, based on limited financial assessment, is to produce 10 000 t/y of high-purity +98.5% V₂O₅ flake using openpit mining and a salt-roast leach extraction process.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
The concept study estimates the capital cost to first production at A$230-million, including A$18.5-million in contingency for direct costs.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Near-term follow-up work programmes are in the advanced planning stages.

The programmes are expected to include database improvements, drilling, baseline environmental data capture and initial stakeholder liaison.

Key activities will include combination reverse-circulation and diamond drilling to:
• target higher-grade near-surface mineralisation zones;
• improve the geological definition of the oxide, transitional and primary ore zones;
• undertake an updated geological resource estimate and more comprehensive metallurgical testwork for material to be beneficiated; and
• provide samples for potential strategic-investor testing.

Yellow Rock will also develop an initial mining schedule; updated cost estimates; financial testing analysis of combinations of feed grade and ore types, taking mining costs into consideration; and vanadium market research to provide confidence in the tonnage of V₂O₅ products that can be supplied to market.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Battery Limits (concept study).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Yellow Rock Resources, tel +61 8 9227 6300, fax +61 8 9227 6400 or email yrrinfo@yellowrock.com.au.
Battery Limits, tel +61 8 9380 9277, fax +61 8 9486 1031 or email info@batterylimits.com.au.