Vanadium Resources completes study for South Africa project
- Vanadium Resources finished a scoping study for a joint vanadium and iron operation at its Steelpoortdrift Project in South Africa.
- The project returned a post-tax net present value of US$842 million and an internal rate of return of 36% over 30 years under its base case scenario.
- The company plans to use the results to progress to a definitive feasibility study subject to securing future funding.
Vanadium Resources (ASX:VR8) completed a scoping study on a joint vanadium and iron operation at its Steelpoortdrift Project in South Africa.
The base-case valuation outlines average annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation of US$226 million based on pre-production capital costs of US$400 million.
"Our developing US vanadium offtake partnership anchors 100% of planned vanadium-slag production in Western critical-mineral supply chains, with a usable intermediate product moving directly from South Africa to a US refinery without passing through, or depending on, any adversarial jurisdiction," said Vanadium Resources CEO Nick Diack.
The project targets an annual production rate of 603,000 tonnes of pig iron and 65,000 tonnes of vanadium-rich slag from its processing facilities.
Following the announcement, the Vanadium Resources share price was down at $0.056.
The proposed operation relies on a non-binding term sheet with US Vanadium Holding covering all planned vanadium-slag production.
To advance towards a final investment decision, the company anticipates needing at least US$400 million in pre-production development funding.
