PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Scoping studies into the Airijoki and Koitelainen vanadium projects, in Sweden and Finland respectively, have proven both projects to be financially robust, ASX-listed Pursuit Minerals said on Wednesday.

The scoping studies assessed the potential for both Airijoki and Koitelainen to be developed as mining operations producing high-grade vanadium magnetite concentrates that would be sold on the global market.

Pursuit told shareholders that it would initially focus on the advancement of the Airijoki project, completing metallurgical test work in May, which is expected to provide sufficient information to initiate discussions with potential offtake partners.

“With the Airijoki project in Sweden, we are now confident that we have a project with the potential to generate returns base don reasonable assumptions of long-term vanadium prices and cost inputs, as well as conservative capital costs,” said Pursuit MD Jeremy Read.

“Airijoki is clearly a project with excellent fundamentals. It is a relatively high-grade deposit, has the potential to be mineable with a low strip ratio, has excellent access to services and infrastructure in a first-class mining jurisdiction and with easy access to global markets.

“By starting with a project that simply produces vanadium magnetite concentrate for sale, rather than constructing a plant for production of vanadium pentoxide flake, we can significantly reduce pre-production capital costs, simplify funding requirements and generate earlier access to cashflow.”

Once in production, Pursuit will look to second phase development, which will entail the construction of downstream processing facilities to process concentrates from Airijoki and Koitelainen to produce a vanadium pentoxide flake.

Read said that Pursuit is now considering potential strategic partners to assist in a definitive feasibility study of Airijoki, and to move both projects through to the next stages of development.