Looks like to me initially targeting the steel market first (Stage 1), and then the battery market (Stage 2. That is inline with my views on how we should be devloping the mine. Post #:
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Now the upgrade in resource is very good.
Copper and cobalt and vanadium have different specific gravities (use google to understand what I mean) and what they will do in a process flowsheet is use a serious of gravity separation/ion exchange to ensure the relevant products are extracted separately and then treated separately under the different aspects of the process flow sheet (socopper/cobalt doesn't contaminate vanadium). To illustrate, Step 1 of the process flow sheet might be to extract the copper and cobalt, with what is extracted then treated in its own process and lets call that Step 2 (either producing a cobalt/copper concentrate which I suspect is what they will do here for sale) or a separate copper and cobalt concentrate. Obviously cost and viability need to be balanced on what you do here.
The vanadium will simply from Step 1 to Step 3 in a process flowsheet and that will then be converted to V205 (initially at 98% Min for the steel market, but obviously the process in Step 3 would need to be scoped etc so that additional units can be added to get to your 99.5% purity for the battery market etc etc.
Now if you can commercially recover cobalt/copper in Step 2 it will be treated like a credit to the vanadium opex cost (just go over to PLS and see how they are treating the tantalite credits there, derived in a separate step of that process flowsheet - credit for reducing opex in its spodumene concentrate opex costs).
In other words this Ann is a positive if can commercially recover cobalt/copper in a process flow sheet. If not you simply use the specific gravity/ion exchange etc etc in a process flowsheet to take the waste out of the ore initially at Step 1 and move straight to Step 3 (no Step 2 in a process flow sheet above if commerciality for cobalt/copper extraction by installing the relevant specific capex for them in a process flowsheet is not viable). Then in Step3 obviously have the roasting and and separation/ion exchanges steps etc etc in a vanadium process flowsheet to get to your 98% V2o5 (and hopefully we can also get to 99.5% which we are still working on).
That is my interpretation as well.
All IMO
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