I have just done little research on Vanadium recycling plant opportunities in Sweden/ Finland.
I note that a company called Ferrovan had an agreement to recycle Vanadium slag from SSAB's mines in Sweden and Finland. They had been pursuing this opportunity since about 2012 and had done extensive studies and produced a PFS.
The project capex blew out from 240m Euros to +400m Euros. BNP Paribas were trying to raise funds but failed- the capex was just too high and product supply agreement was problematical (perhaps that now been solved)
10th April 2019 announcement
Ferrovan Oy’s goal was to build a factory in Raahe for extraction of vanadium from LD-slag, a by-product produced at SSAB’s 3 steel plants in Sweden and Finland. The project would have been a circular economy project using an innovative process technology developed by the company’s staff since its inception in 2011 at a total development cost of nearly EUR 30 million.Despite robust project economics and favorable vanadium market conditions, the high capital cost of the plant of over EUR 400 million, turned out too high an obstacle to overcome. Although discussions with investors and banks were at an advanced stage, certain critical conditions regarding the raw material supply could not be met. As the company ran out of working capital and sources for short term bridge financing, no other options remained than to file for bankruptcy.Filing took place on Wednesday the 10th of April at the District Court of Oulu. The court appointed Mr. Jari Maaranen from Lexia Attorneys in Helsinki as administrator of the Ferrovan bankrupt estate.Drs. Jan Akkerman, managing director of Akkerman Exploration B.V. and founder of Ferrovan in 2011, under the name of Mustavaaran Kaivos B.V. wishes to thank all who have assisted and supported the company during its endeavors to realize its project.
Just wondering whether this is the same project along with all the other assets which was recently acquired from the liquidators of Ferrovan by Strategic Resources in Canada for 150,000 Euros?
https://strategic-res.com/news/2020/strategic-resources-acquires-the-past-producing-mustavaara-mine-in-finland/See Ferrovan presentation - below
https://materialweek.fi/file/2018/Kokkola-Material-Week-2018-GeoKokkola-Jukka-Pitkajarvi-Ferrovan.pdf just wondering if Critical Metals acquired this opportunity from Strategic Resources in Canada?
Perhaps Neometals/ Critical Metals can leverage their studies from all the data available from Ferrovan now owned by Strategic Resources including the PFS. Seems like extensive work has already been undertaken and paid for. Also Neometals may have a cheaper way to build the plant given they are using their own novel process route?
Perhaps they can use some of the data to save on the A$5m they have allocated to the spend?
Interested to hear thoughts?
(20min delay)