Name of the Project
SPD vanadium project.

Location
The project is located in a similar geological setting to the mining operations of Rhovan (Glencore), Vametco (Bushveld Minerals) and Mapochs, in South Africa’s Gauteng and Limpopo provinces.

Project Owner/s
Tando Resources.

Project Description
A scoping study has demonstrated the potential for strong financial metrics for Phase 1 at the SPD vanadium project.

The scoping study is based on an indicated and inferred mineral resource of about 169-million tonnes grading 1.07% vanadium pentoxide.

Phase 1 is based on a proposed 2.2-million-tonne-a-year standalone mining and beneficiation operation to generate a +2% vanadium pentoxide concentrate for sale at mine gate.

The project is expected to produce an average of 790 000 t/y of vanadium concentrate over a 25-year mine life.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has net present value estimated at between $68-million and $138-million and a pretax internal rate of return of between 48% and 86%, with a payback of between 1.9 and 2.8 years.

Capital Expenditure
The project will require preproduction capital of between $18.8-million and $20-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Tando Resources has announced plans to implement parallel development strategies for its SPD vanadium project.

The company has said that, following the results of the May scoping study, the company has decided to convert the Phase 1 scoping study into a prefeasibility study (PFS) and to start the development of Phase 2.

 “The confirmed superior resource base of SPD allows for both the production of a high-grade vanadiferous titano-magnetite concentrate for sale, and as a feedstock for a modern plant planned to produce specialist vanadium products used by the steel and renewable-energy industries,” Tando MD Bill Oliver has said.

While offtake discussions are ongoing, Tando will continue to advance development of Phase 1, with the PFS and reserve drilling programme set to start this month. Given the extensive work undertaken as part of the scoping study, the PFS will likely be completed in a relatively short timeframe of about four months at a cost of A$250 000.

The drilling programme is expected to cost an additional A$120 000.

Concurrent with the work for Phase 1, Tando will continue to advance the further commercialisation of SPD through studies into the Phase 2 project, which will use the high-quality concentrate generated in Phase 1 for downstream processing to produce value-added specialist products suitable for the steel, renewable-energy and industrial minerals markets.

The Phase 2 studies will initially assess which technologies and processing options are most appropriate for the vanadiferous titanomagnetite concentrate produced from SPD, to determine the optimum method or a combination of methods of downstream processing that will deliver the highest value for the company.

Phase 2 will also aim to generate specialist iron and titanium products from the suit of economic elements contained within the SPD mineraliation, which could distinguish Tando from existing competitors.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
GEMECS (geology, drilling and sampling); Mining Plus (mineral resources, optimisation and mining studies); Sound Mining (mining, operating expenditure); ENC Minerals (process testwork); METS South Africa (process design, capital expenditure, operating expenditure); Red Kite Consulting (environmental assessment) and Noboprox (social studies).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Tando Resources, email contact@tandoresources.com.au.