Agree that we should be focusing on supplying into the steel market.
I went back to this this morning:
http://www.australianvanadium.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Proactive-251016.pdf
In the above link the following is said: "The company aims to develop both stand-alone and mine-attached vanadium electrolyte capacity to support the growing demand in the vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) sector."
You are correct that the Scoping Study doesn't appear to make any commentary around electrolyte capacity at mine site, simply providing a vague reference on what it might do in future near the back of that SS.
Like yourself, I have been working on the assumption of a stand-alone electrolyte option offsite, linked to battery production been produced offsite as well (given VA's interest in this area). Certainly if producing 99.5% electrolyte onsite would increase energy needs as well, given I suspect the larger energy need to remove impurities from 98% min grade V205 to get to 99.5% grade, and agree the Scoping Study doesn't reference revenue for onsite electrolyte production (only references the pipeline in terms of V2O5 production). The bolt on option in my earlier post at minesite is also a possibility, but will be dependent on energy and whether that is a better option than offsite development and the PFS will probably need to make commentary on that.
But to reiterate, I would be hoping they just focus on supplying the steel market needs first, then 99.5% further down the track, if feasible. AVL just needs to focus on entering the market ASAP and meeting the needs of the steel market provides that opportunity. Entry in the battery market is something they can diversify into IMO later, once production starts.
Whether, producing 99.5% is lucrative or not will depend on additional capex/opex costs and the premium, as well as what is the upward price impact of takeup of batteries on that premium in future. That is where can that supply come from, as I suspect only the higher grade deposits have the capacity to economically produce 99.5% grade IMO (but that is a guess only). If vanadium battery takeup increases substantially then the premiums available (over 98% grade) may widen if there is a significant demand/supply imbalance. Hard at the moment to make such comparisons as there is also limited pricing data on the premiums themselves IMO.
In any event, I agree AVL needs to target the steel market first.
All IMO
(20min delay)