The Queensland Government in Australia has designated the Vecco Critical Minerals Project, valued at A$798m ($540m), as a “coordinated project”.
The declaration from Queensland’s coordinator-general paves the way for various environmental approvals.
Queensland Coordinator-General Gerard Coggan said: “It is important we facilitate and responsibly progress projects that help transition Queensland’s economy and provide pathways to realise the potential for new industry and new jobs creation as we move towards the State’s low emissions targets.
“The community and stakeholders should have a say in evaluating the economic, social and environmental effects. The coordinated project declaration allows this to happen in a consistent and considered and sequenced way.
“As coordinator-general, I will oversee the project evaluation by all government agencies, considering community issues and possible impacts, and requiring an environmental impact statement for this project.”
Vecco, an integrated mining and critical minerals manufacturing company, has proposed a greenfield mine and processing plant north of Julia Creek, along with a battery manufacturing plant in Townsville.
The project will see extraction of critical minerals such as vanadium, HPA and molybdenum.
These critical minerals are essential components in grid-scale energy storage, lithium-ion batteries and electronic devices.
The project is estimated to extract up to 6.7 million tonnes per annum of run-of-mine ore, producing up to 8,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of vanadium, 4,000tpa of high-purity alumina and 600tpa of molybdenum over a 17-year mine life.
Vecco plans to transport processed products on-site to its vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility in Townsville, ahead of the establishment of a local vanadium battery manufacturing plant.
Vecco Group managing director Thomas Northcott said: “Demand for vanadium flow batteries is rapidly increasing to meet the world’s energy storage demands.
“Australia’s demand for medium and deep duration storage by 2045 has been estimated at over 100GWh [gigawatt-hours] by the market operator and vanadium flow batteries made right here in Townsville from Queensland’s minerals can help meet this need while creating good jobs in regional areas.
“We will be able to integrate mining and manufacturing and apply our expertise in critical minerals into the downstream supply chain to assist Queensland to achieve its renewable energy target.”
The project is expected to generate up to 300 jobs during the construction period and up to 274 jobs during the operational phase of the mine.
Subject to approvals, construction on the project is expected to commence in 2025, with the operational phase due to begin in late 2026.
The economic importance of these and other critical minerals to Queensland's future is acknowledged in the Queensland Critical Minerals Strategy.
