Name of the Project
Mt Peake vanadium/titanium/iron project.

Location
Northern Territory, Australia.

Project Owner/s
TNG.

Project Description
As part of the ongoing front-end engineering design (FEED) process for its Mt Peake project, TNG has optimised its planned execution and delivery strategy for the project, delivering savings and reductions in upfront capital costs while maintaining robust economics.

Discussions have confirmed that simplifying the project towards a one-stage build while minimising capacity and capital expenditure is best suited to the targeted debt/equity structure for the project.

The Mt Peake mine site will involve mining the titanomagnetite ore and recovering the magnetite in a concentrate through a beneficiation process.

The company and its advisers have selected a development strategy based on an initial production rate of two-million tonnes a year of ore throughput at the beneficiation plant, corresponding to 100 000 t/y of titanium oxide pigment through the proposed TIVAN processing plant. At a later date, after the financial completion of construction and operation of the two-million-tonne-a-year plant, TNG may consider the option to expand production capacity.

Previous feasibility studies were conducted using three-million tonnes a year of run-of-mine (RoM) production capacity during an initial production stage and increasing capacity to six-million tonnes a year of RoM by expanding the plant after four years of production.

Under the new mining schedule, the life-of-mine (LoM) has been extended to 37 years, from the previously planned 20-year LoM.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The updated pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, is estimated at A$2.8-billion, with an internal rate of return of 33% and a payback of 2.8 years.

Capital Expenditure
Preproduction capital expenditure is estimated at A$824-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
TNG will partner with Germany-based strategic engineering group SMS Group for the development of a carbon-neutral technology to produce green hydrogen as part of an optimisation strategy for the Mt Peake vanadium/titanium/iron project.

Under the agreement, the companies will produce green hydrogen from various renewable, secondary or fossil hydrocarbon sources using plasma pyrolysis, with SMS to manage all development activities and apply the technology to TNG’s own TIVAN process.

The technology, which consumes about one-third of the electricity required to produce the same amount of hydrogen by electrolysis of water, could be the preferred reduction agent for the TIVAN process. It also has the potential to be applied for the production of hydrogen and syngas from various fossil, biogentic and waste materials, creating additional business opportunities.

A by-product of this process is expected to be a highly pure carbon black powder, and possibilities to produce graphene or carbon nanotubes from this powder will also be investigated.

The agreement with SMS is not expected to impact on the front-end engineering and design study completion, as well as the delivery of a turnkey engineering, procurement and construction proposal from SMS. The hydrogen technology development programme will run in parallel, and will be subject to the confirmation of technical and commercial feasibility and integration with the project development planning.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Snowden Mining Industry Consultants (revised mining strategy); Como Engineering (beneficiation plant – recoveries, operating expenditure and capital expenditure); McMahon Services (infrastructure – operating and capital expenditures); SMS (process plant flowsheets); and METS Engineering (process plant construction and operating expenditure).

Contact Details for Project Information
TNG, tel +61 8 9327 0900 or email corporate@tngltd.com.au.