Surefire Resources set for new Saudi offtake discussions on back of robust Victory Bore report
Surefire Resources (ASX: SRN) is set to undertake fresh discussions with interested Saudi companies after receiving robust results from a now-completed pre-feasibility study (PFS) for the company’s Victory Bore vanadium project in Western Australia.
The company has already signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Investment Saudi Arabia (MISA) for vanadium and critical mineral processing in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and is arranging new meetings at a forum being held in January 2024 in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh.
The partnership with the KSA will provide the advantage of processing its material in a low power and fuel cost jurisdiction, with the significant advantages of reduced operating costs, as well as producing final products for nearby markets.
Viable project confirmed
The Victory Bore PFS has confirmed a viable project producing approximately 1.25 million tonnes per year of high-quality vanadium-titanium magnetite concentrate at the Victory Bore mine site north of the WA port of Geraldton.
The project will also produce up to six products from that concentrate in KSA including 2,580tpa of high purity vanadium and 5,760tpa of ferrovanadium.
Surefire also reported an updated measured, indicated and inferred mineral resource of 465Mt at 0.30% vanadium oxide, 5.1% titanium dioxide and 17.7% iron.
Moving to PFS status also included the release of a maiden probable ore reserve of 93Mt at 0.35% vanadium oxide, 5.2% titanium dioxide and 19.8% iron.
“This is an outstanding result for our world-class critical minerals project and shows that, in the current economic environment, offshore processing is the right approach to getting this project into development and production,” Surefire Resources managing director Paul Burton said.
“We look forward to taking this project forward, completing the next significant milestones and engaging with KSA companies interested in being part of our project and development.”
Optimal mining rate
The Victory Bore operation will involve an optimal mining rate of 4.0Mtpa of ore to produce approximately 1.25Mtpa of high-grade magnetite concentrate to be processed into six end-products.
Mining will be by standard open cut methods, using a low strip ratio, drill and blast, load and haul.
Magnetite concentrates are to be bulk-shipped to the KSA for downstream processing using traditional methods with modern applications and state-of-the-art flow processing.
The KSA government has proposed downstream processing to be located in one of the industrial hubs specifically designated for ferro-alloy processing.
The KSA has a significant steel sector with demand for vanadium products, including ferrovanadium and vanadium electrolyte for vanadium redox batteries.