Perth based TNG has filed an International Patent Application for the new hydrometallurgical process developed for its 100% owned Mount Peake Iron Vanadium Project in the Northern Territory which can potentially boost project economics.
For the first time using hydrometallurgy, the newly named TIVANTM process has successfully extracted commercial grades of vanadium, titanium and iron from the Mount Peake Deposit which is hosted by a similar rock type to that which hosts most known vanadium deposits worldwide.
Mr Paul Burton MD of TNG said that “Testwork conducted on this new process to date indicates its significant potential to contribute to the low cost development of one of Australia’s largest vanadium projects at Mount Peake. With this application, we are now moving to the next stage of global patent protection for a technology with the potential to support the development of a fully vertically integrated ferrous metals business for the company.
TIVANTM was jointly developed last year in conjunction with TNG’s metallurgical consultants, Mineral Engineering Technical Services Private Limited. A joint patent application for the process was lodged by TNG and METS in May 2010 and a Trade Mark application has now also been submitted. The TIVANTM process uses a combination of acid leaching, solvent extraction and chemical stripping to selectively recover the valuable metals.
TNG said that successful testwork was undertaken last year using the new process on Mount Peake drill core. The company is currently undertaking further diamond drilling to extract a representative sample of about 1 tonne of core samples for use in larger scale metallurgical testwork and pilot plant studies, planned for the H2 of this year.
Importantly, the upcoming pilot plant metallurgical testwork program will provide a definitive test of the commercial potential of the process and form part of the Pre Feasibility Study on the Mount Peake Project.
TNG is progressing Pre Feasibility work on schedule for completion in October 2011 with engineering, process design, hydrology, Native Title and environmental studies underway. TNG aims to upgrade the current JORC Inferred Resource of; 139 million tonnes at 0.29% vanadium, 5.34% titanium and 23.66% iron, to the higher confidence categories of Measured and Indicated.
In April TNG received a further boost to the credentials of the Mount Peak Project with a major Chinese engineering and development company extending the non-binding MoU which allows for the establishment of a strategic partnership for Mount Peake financing and development.
(Sourced from www.proactiveinvestors.com.au)
