Surefire Resources strengthens pathway to production at Victory Bore with Geraldton port agreement
Surefire Resources (ASX: SRN) has entered into a joint co-operation agreement (JCA) with Western Australia’s Mid-West Ports Authority to determine the best solutions for the export of product from its Victory Bore vanadium project through the port of Geraldton.
The parties will work together to accelerate a supply chain solution to support the export of magnetite concentrate from the project, situated 450 kilometres north of Perth, to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
The JCA aims to secure port access, capacity reservations, ship loading, port services and product export contracts for approximately 1.25 million tonnes of concentrate per year.
Production pathway
Surefire managing director Paul Burton said it was a key development along the pathway to production at Victory Bore.
“The execution of this JCA represents a step forward in our logistics chain and is another advancement of our future operation plans as we continue the development of this flagship project,” he said.
Mr Burton said Surefire had been progressing discussions with logistics providers to transport magnetite concentrate from Victory Bore to the port of Geraldton and from there to the KSA and – subject to offtake discussions – other destinations including South Korea, Japan and China.
He noted that the company’s understanding of the availability of port access, storage and ship loading facilities would underpin the discussions.
Project development
Surefire is developing Victory Bore to produce magnetite concentrate for export to the KSA, where it will be processed into high-value products such as vanadium pentoxide, ferrovanadium, pig iron, iron oxide and titanium slag.
In December 2023, the company reported robust results from a pre-feasibility study that showed the project would have a net present value of US$1.1 billion and a 42% internal rate of return, with a payback period of 2.4 years over a 24-year mine life.
On the release of the study, Surefire engaged with the KSA government and relevant Saudi companies to finalise a location for the processing plant and establish a presence in the region before the start of production.
Surefire entered into an agreement with international engineering specialist DRA Global (ASX: DRA) earlier this week to help advance Victory Bore to commercialisation.