It's been known for years that TNG's main revenue driver is titanium and not vanadium. Interpolating with the numbers in TNG's DFS it was shown that the Mt Peake project was in principle profitable extracting and selling all 3 commodities, or titanium + iron OR titanium + vanadium, but NOT iron + vanadium only
Hence the need for Tivan refinery, BOOT components, massive CAPEX investment etc etc to make it economical
I also invite you to read Blythefan's good post here as he explains well that you can't quite compare it the way you're comparing it. There's no 'byproduct' as such going the TNG's route as they're planning to extract and refine all 3 materials to high purity - vanadium pentoxide / vanadium electrolyte, titanium dioxide pigment and iron ore fines - thus value adding themselves up to what constitutes a different product suite from TMT's. TNG's deposit wouldn't be worth mining without the (expensive to build) recovery and refining process
So yes TMT's more of a 'pure' vanadium play than TNG will ever be though TNG's counter-argument could be that they are more diversified and so less exposed to price swings in one metal. It's clear now TMT is also going a slightly different route, as building a primary vanadium play is a harder feat.
At the end of the day, if you produce vanadium, you are a vanadium producer.
(disclosure: I've been holding both TMT and TNG for years. Obviously very different % profits as of today)
