Big batteries across Australia could one day be powered by a little-known element called vanadium and manufactured onshore, an industry leader says.
The silvery-grey metal is the latest “pit to grid” sensation for electricity system operators, although most people have never heard of it.
“Seven years ago lithium was in the same spot,” Australian Vanadium CEO Graham Arvidson told AAP ahead of a briefing on the element at the Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, on Wednesday.
Ferro-Alloy Resources Ltd (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.