Vecco critical mineral project advances

A $798 million renewable energy project to create almost 600 jobs in North West Queensland, along with new manufacturing jobs in Townsville, is now one step closer.

The Queensland Coordinator-General has declared the Vecco Critical Minerals Project a ‘coordinated project’, paving the way for environmental approvals.

Vecco is proposing a new greenfield mine and critical minerals processing plant north of Julia Creek, along with a battery manufacturing plant in Townsville.

The project will extract up to 6.7 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of run-of-mine ore to produce up to 8,000 tpa of vanadium, 4,000 tpa of high purity alumina and 600 tpa of molybdenum over a 17-year mine life.

Vecco plans to transport onsite processed product to its own vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility in Townsville in advance of a local vanadium battery manufacturing plant being established.

The project is predicted to create up to 300 jobs over the construction period, and up to 274 jobs during the mine’s operational phase.

Pending approvals, construction on the project is anticipated to start in 2025, with the operational phase expected to begin in late 2026.

The state Minister for State Development and Infrastructure Grace Grace: “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 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.”

Picture: Vecco critical minerals project