In a significant development, Surefire Resources NL (ASX:SRN) has achieved a breakthrough process in extracting vanadium directly from magnetite concentrate from its flagship Victory Bore Vanadium Project in Western Australia.
The pre-treatment and leach process demonstrated a ‘remarkable’ extraction of 91% vanadium and 88% titanium directly from Victory Bore magnetite concentrate.
This new metallurgical application alleviates the requirement for standard pre-treatment processes currently used in the vanadium extraction industry.
Furthermore, the process is expected to be more environmentally acceptable with low emissions and a reduced carbon footprint.
Investors have given a thumbs up to the news with SRN shares as much as 44.5% higher this morning to $0.013.
Moving forward, this process will be applied to Surefire’s planned development of its Victory Bore Project and the impact on capital cost and operating cost benefits will be assessed.
Background
In May 2023, Surefire appointed METS Engineering to assess the potential for recovery of high-purity vanadium oxide in liquid form, from which a clean high-purity vanadium electrolyte could be produced for use in the emerging vanadium battery sector in Australasia.
Following a detailed literature search and a review of all existing extraction processes, a direct leaching test work program was designed and established by the METS team.
A total of four separate hydro-chemical tests were carried out on pre-treated magnetite concentrate (PTMC).
Patent application underway
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.
Laboratory test work involved batches of PTMC from the Victory Bore deposit subjected to four separate merchants with catalysts, under various novel conditions.
The total process is a combination of the proprietary PTMC, leachant and novel conditions.
The process details are commercial in confidence remain the IP of Surefire Resources and are subject to provisional patent protection.