Australian Vanadium Limited (ASX:AVL) has received Government approval for a Programme of Works (PoW) over its Coates vanadium deposit in Western Australia
Managing Director Vincent Algar said the application is for drilling up to 15 diamond core holes at the Coates deposit, concentrating on the Vacant Crown Land (VCL) portion of the tenement.
The Coates deposit is situated in the Shire of Northam approximately 35km east of Perth and AVL has signed a joint venture agreement with private company Ultra Power Systems (UPS), to develop the deposit.
Under the terms of the joint venture agreement UPS will spend $50,000 on exploration on the tenement within the first 12 months of the agreement and $150,000 during the first 24 months.
Mr Algar said the drill programme intends to determine the deposit’s suitability as a low-cost feed for a full commercial scale processing plant which UPS proposes to build in Kwinana, Western Australia. The drilling will also enable a resource estimation of the Coates mineralisation to JORC standards to be produced by the AVL/UPS joint venture in 2020.
Importantly the VCL area is easily accessed and minimal clearing is required for the drill programme, much of which is on existing tracks.
The exploration diamond drilling campaign will use PQ or HQ core and it will therefore be possible to obtain enough bulk sample for metallurgical testing. The drilling of vertical holes and larger diameter core will ensure good sample recoveries in the laterite cap-rock, as well as the weathered gabbro.
Drill holes are planned to be no more than 50m deep and the programme totals 750 metres
Ultra Power Systems Limited (UPS) is a private company which was formed for the purpose of offering next generation power and storage system solutions to capital conscious clients.
The company intends to provide brand and generation agnostic solutions according to a customer’s needs, but with the core provision of a third-generation VRFB, which represents a transformational catalyst to enable the vision of blended power supply inputs on micro- and mega-grids. UPS has secured a licence to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s (PNNL) generation 3 vanadium electrolyte production.
In addition, it holds the exclusive Australian option to license the VanadiumCorp Electrochem Processing Technology (VEPT). VEPT enables the recovery of valuable by-products during the vanadium processing route with minimal carbon production and minimal waste
