New industry on cards

Saint Elmo vanadium mine gets tick of approval

A NEW mine approval in the North West is expected to push Queensland into a global market, and strengthen the future of new-economy minerals in the state.

The Queensland government has signed off on the Multicom vanadium mine at Saint Elmo, near Julia Creek, with the project expected to support up to 400 regional jobs. Vanadium is used in high strength low alloy steel and is emerging as a critical battery storage commodity for its use in vanadium redox flow batteries, ideally suited to large grid scale storage solutions.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Multicom was the “first cab off the rank” in an industry that would fuel the state’s future as a global resources supplier.

“Vanadium is an important ingredient in the manufacture of specialty steel and will be used in large-scale renewable batteries around the world because it can be charged thousands of times without degrading,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

She added it also laid the foundation for manufacturing vanadium redox flow batteries in the state.

Multicom Resources’ chief executive officer Shaun McCarthy said the mine was expected to start construction in 2022, supporting 250 jobs at peak, with the first production forecast for 2023.

“Saint Elmo is initially forecast to produce up to 5000 tonnes per annum of vanadium pentoxide, supporting at least 150 mine jobs and operating for up to 20 years,” Mr Mccarthy said.

“As the project expands production to 20,000 tonnes per annum over time, there’ll be an additional 100 operational and 150 construction jobs created.”

It is expected about threequaters of the workforce will either live in the Mckinlay

Shire, Cloncurry, Richmond or Mount Isa.

“Multicom will also source our suppliers from the local region as much as possible and is well supported by the well-established supply chain along the Townsville to Mt Isa corridor,” he said.

Ore processing will occur on site, with product shipped globally through the Port of Townsville. Resources Minister Scott Stewart said the Geological Survey of Queensland was constantly gathering data on the state’s minerals.

“The Palaszczuk government makes that pre-competitive data available to explorers free of charge to help de-risk their exploration activity,” Mr Stewart said.

“This data gave Multicom the confidence they needed to support investment and a mining lease application.”

Saint Elmo is the first mine approved in a potential vanadium hub in the far northwest, with other companies progressing other potential mines.