The global Mineral Resource estimate is 680Mt of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources at an average in situ grade of 0.70% V2O5, when a cut-off grade of 0.45% V2O5 is applied. This provides for 4.74Mt of contained V2O5 (refer Table 1 below) and at the DFS throughput rates would allow for over 180 years of mining.
Table 1 Steelpoortdrift Vanadium Project Global Mineral Resource by Resource Category
Parameter
Life of Mine
Total Ore Tonnes
Strip Ratio
Average V2O5 Grade
Total Concentrate Produced
V2O5 Flake Produced
Average Flake Production
Operating Costs
Pre-Production Capex
Stage 2 Capex (from free cashflows)
V2O5 Flake Price
Annual Free Cashflows
Post-Tax NPV7.5%
Attributable Post-Tax NPV7.5% (73.95%)
Post-Tax IRR
Exchange Rate
Government Royalty
Unit
Years
ROM kt
t/t
%
kt
kt
ktpa
US$/lb
US$m
US$m
US$/lb
US$m/year
US$m
US$m
%
US$ : ZAR
%
DFS Result
25
80,324
0.88
0.71%
29,083
484.0
19.4
3.24
211
188
9.50
152
1,212
896
42%
15.50
5%
About the Orebody
As seen in the image above, the orebody outcrops at the surface in multiple places across the site and then dips shallowly (~10-12⁰) which allows for open pit mining with a very low strip ratio (0.88x waste : ore) for the 25-year Life of Mine presented in the DFS.
Figure 1 below highlights the shallow nature of the resource as well as showing three key high grade vanadiferous titanomagnetite seams that are rich in V2O5, these are represented by the yellow and red bands.
A key advantage of the Steelpoortdrift orebody is its ability to achieve a high-grade concentrate of greater than 2% V2O5, which is very competitive with current Vanadium producers and one of the highest concentrate grades for any Vanadium projects globally. The high concentrate grade allows for greater recoveries, lower throughput rates and ultimately, lower operating costs than many other Vanadium projects globally.
The DFS and latest Mineral Resource update both flagged that future target areas for infill drilling have been identified down dip from the current Resource to further expand the deposit.
Figure 2 shows the current location and classification of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, with the blue areas on the left-hand side representing the unclassified resource areas, which with further drilling may be able to be classified as part of the Mineral Resource.
Figure 1 Cross Sections indicating grade variations along strike and down dip