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Project Description
Balasausqandiq Vanadium Project
Discovered in the 1940s, the Balasausqandiq deposit is a very large black-shale deposit containing vanadium and valuable by-products. This deposit is unlike the majority of other vanadium deposits in the world, either in production or proposed, in that it is not comprised of vanadiferous titano-magnetite and is amenable to a processing method which is lower in both capital and operating costs. The current mineral resource estimate for the deposit amounts to some 33m tonnes of ore from only the first (of seven known) ore bodies within the Company’s mining licence area. The deposit is expected to be large enough to eventually support an operation to treat up to 10m tonnes of ore per year, producing some 55,000 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide per year. However, to avoid oversupply to the market, engineering risks, and to reduce shareholder dilution, the Company plans to develop the deposit more slowly, in steps that are more in tune with both the natural expansion of the vanadium market and at a pace which allows the later stages of the project to be substantially financed from the earnings of the earlier stages. This relatively slow development plan can be revised if there is a significant increase in demand, for example, for vanadium redox flow batteries for energy storage. A two-phase development is currently planned, starting at 1.65m tonnes of ore per year (Phase 1) and rising to 5m tonnes of ore per year (Phase 2). The 1.65m tonnes per year initial development followed by a 3.35m tonnes per year expansion is an integrated plan aimed at limiting financial, engineering and market risk, whilst still benefiting from the economies of scale of the large deposit size. Further expansions beyond the current plans are possible.
Highlights
A new CBS product developed based on processing high-carbon / low vanadium waste rock located within the existing pit shells scheduled to be stripped during the mining of Ore-Body 1 ("OB1")
Successful laboratory testing of the new CBS product (and the existing c. 40% carbon CBS product) by a major manufacturer and supplier of automotive rubber products to the Chinese car industry opens the prospect of a valuable CBS revenue stream with the potential to be brought online prior to the construction of the Project's main processing plant
A 20 tonne sample of the new CBS product is being sent to the potential Chinese customer for industrial testing
Feasibility Study substantially complete including the 1.65 million tonnes per year ("Mtpa") process plant design, tailing storage facility design and mine plan
Potential changes to the CBS product specification, source ore and treatment process, which could materially improve the CBS aspects of the Feasibility Study, will be made over the course of the summer, deferring the projected issue date of the Feasibility Study to September 2025
Feasibility study
The Feasibility Study is substantially complete with respect to the mining and processing to recover vanadium pentoxide as flake.
Mineral reserve 33 million tonnes (OB1 only)
Mining and throughput to the process plant - 1.65 Mtpa
Vanadium pentoxide output - 8,500 tonnes per year ("tpa")
Carbon black substitute output - up to 220,000 tpa
Process plant design, tailings storage facility design and mine planning complete
Ecological and social studies have not identified any significant issues
Project Phase:
Initiation & Feasibility
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Start Date:
1/1/2025
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Other important details
In 2021, SRK Consulting (Kazakhstan) Limited ("SRK") in conjunction with Tetra Tech Limited ("Tetra Tech"), were commissioned to produce a feasibility study to independently verify the Group's processes. The Group also commissioned SGS Canada Inc ("SGS"), an international independent laboratory testing organisation to carry out the detailed test work under the supervision of Tetra Tech.
Ferro-Alloy stated that the results of the study indicate the potential of the project to become "one of the largest and cheapest vanadium producers in the world."
The company reported "compelling economic performance," noting a net present value of $748 million combined with an internal return rate of 22% on the project.
The report says that the financing required to start production is US$520 million, and reports a lower decile of industry cash operating costs with "attractive potential for by-product cost growth."
Ferro-Alloy reported that the projected price of vanadium pentoxide will be US$8.67 per pound in 2029, with a subsequent increase to US$10.59 per pound in 2037 and beyond.
They also noted the annual production of 8,500 tons of vanadium pentoxide and 247,000 tons of carbon black substitute, as well as the mine's service life of 20 years.
While the main focus of the project is vanadium, the Balasausqandiq ore contains several valuable by-products which are commercially viable for the Company to recover and process, including molybdenum, uranium and carbon. The most significant of those by-products is carbon, which makes up more than 8% of the ore and is in a form similar to carbon black. Studies have been carried out on the enrichment of the carbon from the ore, following the recovery of the vanadium and other metals, and the potential use of this material as a substitute for carbon black in the production of rubber, tyres in particular. For this purpose a 40% carbon concentrate can be produced by flotation, with the remaining material, principally comprising silica. An alternative use of the carbon-silica tailings for making ferro-silicon has been successfully tested. The Company has completed testing on the carbon concentrate and the results have confirmed the suitability of the concentrate for use in tyre rubber manufacture and other rubber applications. The testing undertaken has shown that the carbon concentrate can be successfully used as a partial substitute for conventional carbon black filler in a passenger car tyre sidewall compound formulation. The results show that with a substitution of up to 10% it was possible to produce compounds with similar physical properties to that of the carbon black control formulation. In particular a sample comprised of 90% carbon black, N660 grade, and 10% carbon concentrate from the Balasausqandiq ore yielded properties similar to those of the control compound and would, therefore, be expected to deliver similar performance in a tyre. Whilst the data did show that the carbon concentrate, when substituted at levels greater than 10%, produced slightly less of a reinforcing effect in the rubber compound than conventional carbon black, some potential advantages in physical properties were identified which could lead to improvements in tyre rolling resistance and sidewall damage resistance. The ore also contains rare earth elements and aluminium but recovery is not currently considered to be economically viable.
Publication/Revision Date:
10/28/2025