Meekatharra vanadium deposit hopeful to process critical mineral near Geraldton in first for Australia

A key link in the chain to mine and process vanadium from the Mid West was locked in this week, with the opening of a new manufacturing facility in suburban Perth.

Company Australian Vanadium Limited (AVL) opened the manufacturing facility in Wangara, hopeful to become an integral part in the first vanadium mine in Australia.

A deposit south of Meekatharra is set to be processed at a site in Tenindewa, between Geraldton and Mullewa, which will become the processing hub for the region.

The high-purity vanadium pentoxide will then be converted into vanadium electrolyte at AVL’s facility in Wangara.

Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King opened the Wangara facility alongside WA Mines and Petroleum Minister David Michael and Federal Durack MP Melissa Price.

The vanadium electrolyte facility has the potential to produce up to 33MWh of high purity electrolyte a year, catering to the growing demands of the vanadium flow battery (VFB) market.

In 2021, AVL was awarded a $3.69 million Federal Government grant, with part of the funding allocated to building and operating a commercial vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility in WA.

Ms King said: “Vanadium flow batteries were invented in Australia, and Australian vanadium will play a key role in the energy transition.

“Vanadium production is highly concentrated internationally, and it is on Australia’s critical minerals list.”

Critical minerals are described as a substance with no acceptable substitute..

VFBs were invented in the 1980s at the University of New South Wales by Emeritus Professor Maria Skyllas-Kazacos and her team, but commercialised overseas and their popularity as an energy storage device is growing.