Published on Tuesday, 29 October 2019 at 3:47:14 PM
Employment opportunities in the Midwest could soar with the announcement of a new potential processing plant near Geraldton.
Perth-based Australian Vanadium Limited (ASX: AVL) today announced a location inland from Geraldton, near Mullewa, has been identified as a possible location for their vanadium processing plant.
After working with the City of Greater Geraldton for some time, Mayor Shane Van Styn said the announcement was welcome news and it would open up a lot of local opportunities.
“Having personally shown staff and directors from AVL around Geraldton and having held many discussions with them, their commitment to regionally based jobs has always been at the forefront of talks,” he said.
“The new plant will open up employment opportunities for locals – including an estimated 200 jobs during construction and 100 ongoing jobs for regionally-based personnel which will be a massive boost for our economy.
"This project is a huge opportunity for the Midwest and also Australia to develop global skills and expertise in vanadium and its processing.
“Greater Geraldton welcomes this news and their commitment to regionally based jobs and we stand ready to assist in any way required to see this project come to fruition,” he added.
AVL is 100% Australian-owned and managed and the company intends to truck vanadium magnetite concentrate from its future mine and concentrator at The Australian Vanadium Project, close to Meekatharra, to a new processing plant located near Mullewa.
Vanadium is a metal used mostly in the manufacture of steel alloys, however many regard vanadium as a metal of the future as it features in a range of new technologies such as vanadium redox flow batteries which store wind and solar renewable energy.
In a statement from AVL, the company will now analyse the selected option in more detail and work with the local Midwest community and undergo environmental and regulatory approval processes.
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