What is vanadium and why are we mining it in Queensland?
What is vanadium and why are we mining it in Queensland?
When it comes to seizing the renewable energy opportunity in Queensland, there are a lot of elements at play. We’re busy building infrastructure to harness Queensland’s natural resources, developing plants that will help to convert those natural resources into power, and skilling workers for jobs in the ever-growing renewables industry. While you’ve probably heard about these kinds of projects, there’s one key element to our renewable energy puzzle that you might not know so much about; a very important metal called vanadium.
Vanadium is a naturally occurring metallic element that is found in mineralised deposits in high levels in Queensland. In fact, Queensland has some of the richest vanadium deposits in the world. While it can be used for several purposes, vanadium is currently getting a lot of attention because of the role it can play in creating batteries that can store large amounts of energy for a very long time.
With two new vanadium mines set to be constructed in our state, it’s useful to know what vanadium is and what role it’s going to play in Queensland’s ambitious target to use 50% renewable energy by 2030.
What is vanadium?
Vanadium is a type of metal that is really durable, but also soft and pliant. It’s extremely strong; just a small amount of vanadium added to steel alloys can strengthen the material to make it shock and vibration proof. It’s been used in massive construction projects, like the Birds Nest stadium in Beijing, Wembley Stadium in London, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur and the Freedom Tower in New York City. If you own hand or power tools, it’s likely you’ll find they are stamped to say they contain vanadium.
Vanadium isn’t found in its metal form in nature. Instead, it’s found in mineralised deposits. Over 60 types of mineral and various types of rocks are known to contain vanadium.
How can vanadium be used?
Vanadium can be used in a lot of different ways. As well as making strong steel alloys, it can be used in treatments for medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes and high cholesterol. Vanadium can also be used in the process of dying ceramics and fabrics, for creating sulphuric acid and making superconducting magnets. All-in-all, it’s a very handy substance. Of the many uses for vanadium, we’re particularly interested in one which could supercharge Queensland’s renewable energy industry.
Vanadium redox flow batteries
While most of the world’s mined vanadium is currently being used to make steel, it’s the use of vanadium in creating batteries that has put this element front and centre in conversations about renewable energy.
Vanadium redox flow batteries can store energy for long periods of time, can be re-used many times over and have a long lifespan, lasting at least 20 years. They can be attached to an existing energy grid or used to store energy off-grid to be used when needed, and are perfect for storing solar and wind energy.
We need to use batteries when working with renewable energy to store excess energy during times of low demand, then release it when there is more demand. Vanadium batteries are ideal for this purpose and could play a large role in Queensland’s green energy future.
Why are we mining vanadium in Queensland?
As worldwide demand for renewable energy grows, we want Queensland to be world leaders in all aspects of renewable energy and we want to capitalise on the booming renewables industry by creating more jobs for Queenslanders. Mining and processing vanadium in Queensland is one part of meeting these goals.
There is currently one vanadium mining lease granted in an area known as the North West Minerals Province of Queensland. The Saint Elmo Vanadium Project, located near Julia Creek, is planned to begin construction in 2022 and producing in 2023.
To accelerate the development of commercial vanadium projects, we are delivering a common-user vanadium demonstration facility. The new facility will help lower project development costs for smaller or start-up mining companies that do have their own testing facilities. These companies will be able to transport ore samples from their mining tenements to Townsville and use the facility to trial extraction and production processes. Supporting these smaller companies will ultimately attract investment into the region, create jobs and see vanadium and other renewable energy minerals exported from the Port of Townsville.
Environmental protections
There’s no point mining a product that will better help us use green energy if we cause major environmental damage doing it. Vanadium mine projects in Queensland are required to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS), which is used to assess:
- the current environment in the area of the proposed project
- potential environmental, economic and social impacts of the project
- proponent proposals to avoid, minimise, mitigate and/or offset those potential impacts.
The EIS status and documents of the Saint Elmo and Richmond Vanadium projects are available online.
Last updated: 14 Jun 2023