Richmond Vanadium Technology is extending the timeframe to complete the bankable feasibility study for its Richmond-Julia Creek vanadium project by six months.

It is now targeting completion in the June quarter of 2025, with a final investment decision expected in the September quarter of 2025.

The company said the decision followed a detailed review of initial results from all work programs and the current vanadium market.

“Richmond Vanadium Technology is focused on contributing to the creation of a new industry for Australia, the development and global implementation of vanadium redox flow batteries,” managing director Jon Price said.

“We need to ensure we have the technical, ESG and financial assessments capabilities, as well as the expected rise in vanadium price to take advantage of the forecast growth in demand for grid-scale energy storage in 2026 and beyond.

“To enable a new industry from raw material to end user product, all levels of government, the investment community and all Australians need to get behind the vanadium sector to make it a global player.

“RVT has a strong balance sheet and is fully funded up to an investment decision next year. We look forward to keeping all stakeholders fully informed as we progress the BFS and approvals according to this updated timeline.”

The 1.8Bt Richmond–Julia Creek Vanadium Project has a completed pre-feasibility study demonstrating a technically viable and financially attractive development project.

Key elements of the bankable feasibility study commenced mid-2023 with the appointment of DRA Global as the engineering services consultant and Epic Environmental as lead consultant to deliver the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

RVT said the timetable extension had been driven by internal and external factors including:

• Expected delays in securing essential services including power, water, reagents, transport logistics and critical non-process infrastructure;
• Additional mineralogical and metallurgical test work including pilot-scale testing at the planned Queensland Resources Common User Facility in Townsville;
• Further infill drilling across the resource base and sampling for industrial-scale test work and provision of concentrate and final product samples for potential offtake partners;
• Identification of the type of ore that performs best in the existing process flowsheet;
• Refining and optimising the process flowsheet and its location, detailed engineering design, equipment selection and updated capital and operating costs in a volatile cost environment;
• Completing baseline environmental monitoring, technical field work and regional socioeconomic evaluation in partnership with Critical Minerals Queensland and the OCG; and
• Current vanadium market dynamics that are expected to grow significantly from 2026 onwards driven by the global adoption of flow batteries for long-duration energy storage.