Metallurgical manganese has been mined in WA for more than 50 years. WA is estimated to have the fourth highest known reserves of manganese ore, after South Africa, the Ukraine and Brazil. 81 Currently there is one producing manganese project, Consolidated Minerals Ltd’s Woodie Woodie mine, which has recently been reactivated. Woodie Woodie is targeting exports of 1.5 million tonnes of manganese at a price of A$4.03 per kg or approximately A$6 billion. 11.5 Vanadium Like manganese, vanadium is primarily used in steel production, with the specific purpose of increasing steel strength. However, vanadium is being used increasingly in the provision of energy storage. Vanadium flow batteries are growing in demand as a cost-effective power storage solution. Unlike lithium-ion batteries where storage capacity decays over time, vanadium batteries flow off a 100% storage capacity for a life span of 25 years. Additionally, vanadium batteries require recharging far less frequently, in some cases charge retention can last up to a year. 82 Vanadium flow batteries use a liquid electrolyte rather than the more familiar solid “cell’’ construction and this makes them easier to scale up or down as only the size of the plastic tank requires changing. Vanadium redox flow batteries can last up to 20 years or more and retain their capacity even when fully discharged and charged. These can be scaled-up for large scale commercial grid operations. Other advantages of vanadium batteries including: ● ● Longer lifespan compared to lithium batteries; ● ● A lack of overheating and other thermal issues; ● ● Ease of manufacture; ● ● Greater efficiency over time and during variations of temperature; and, ● ● The ability to source more vanadium from environmental hazards such as mine tailings, depleted oil wells and oil storage depots. With a few minor exceptions in the NT and Queensland, vanadium deposits are concentrated in WA. According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Minerals Information Centre, Australian deposits of vanadium represent approximately 11% of the world’s economic vanadium resources. This makes it the fourth largest in the world after China, Russia and South Africa. 83 Currently approximately 92% of vanadium is used in the steel industry. 84 However, the battery storage market for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFB) is growing and demand exceeded supply by approximately 10% or 9,000MT in 2017. 85 Forecasts indicate that VRFB could claim approximately 10% of the battery market per year that is estimated to be 11GMh of installed capacity or 1.1GWh for VRFB. 86 81 United States Geological Survey 2018, Mineral Commodities Summaries 2018, 31 January 2018, https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/mcs/2018/mcs2018.pdf . (Accessed: 01 May 2018) 82 Australian Vanadium Ltd (2018), Vanadium Batteries, 2018, http://www.australianvanadium.com.au/vanadium- batteries/ . (Accessed: 01 May 2018) 83 Geoscience Australia (2017), Vanadium, 01 November 2017, http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/minerals/ mineral-resources/vanadium . (Accessed: 01 May 2018) 84 Australian Vanadium Ltd (2018), Vanadium Batteries, 2018, http://www.australianvanadium.com.au/vanadium- batteries/ . (Accessed: 01 May 2018) 85 Australian Vanadium Ltd (2018), Vanadium Batteries, 2018, http://www.australianvanadium.com.au/vanadium- batteries/ . (Accessed: 01 May 2018) 86 Australian Vanadium Ltd (2018), Vanadium in Energy Storage, March 2018, http://www.australianvanadium.com. au/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/AVL-presentation-March-2018-Paydirt-Battery-Minerals.pdf . (Accessed: 01 May 2018)
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