Technological advances in battery storage of renewable energy are prompting a boom in vanadium exploration in mineral-rich North Queensland.
Australia has traditionally not mined vanadium, which is used to reinforce steel, due to limited market opportunities to sell the mineral but demand for battery technology could fuel a new demand.
Geology and geophysics expert Rick Valenta from the University of Queensland said technological advances had excited exploration companies and several projects were being developed for north-west Queensland.
Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited (LON:FAR) is developing the giant Balasausqandiq vanadium deposit in Kyzylordinskaya oblast of southern Kazakhstan. The ore at this deposit is unlike that of nearly all other primary vanadium deposits and is capable of being treated by a much lower cost process.