The Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve for the Steelpoortdrift (SPD) Vanadium Project was updated on 4^th October 2022 (see ASX Announcement here).

Mineral Resource

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 SPD Vanadium Project Global Mineral Resource by Resource Category

Ore Reserve

The Ore Reserve estimate is 76.9Mt of Proved and Probable Ore Reserves at an average in situ grade of 0.72% V₂O₅, when a cut-off grade of 0.45% V₂O₅ is applied. This provides for 0.55Mt of contained V₂O₅ (refer Table 1 below).

Table 2 SPD Vanadium Project Ore Reserve by Category

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 it’s 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

Figure 2 Location and classification of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves

Mineral Resources

The Company confirms it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the 4 October 2022 (VR8 updated mineral resource and ore reserve for the Steelpoortdrift Vanadium Project) Vanadium Resource estimate and all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimate continue to apply and have not materially changed when referring to its resource announcement made on 04 October 2022. The Company confirms that the form and context in which the Competent Person’s findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcements.

Ore Reserves

The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the Ore Reserves Statement and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in the Ore Reserves Statement continue to apply and have not materially changed. The Information that has been presented in this report has been extracted from the announcement dated 4 October 2022 (VR8 updated mineral resource and ore reserve for the Steelpoortdrift Vanadium Project). The Company confirms that the form and context in which the Competent Person’s findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcements.

Compliance Statement

The information in the referenced announcements that relate to Exploration results, including the Mineral Resources contained within the production target (and forecast financial information derived from the production targets) at the Steelpoortdrift project has previously been publicly released to the ASX.  The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the market announcements and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the announcements continue to apply. The Company confirms that the form and context in which the Competent Person’s finding are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcements.