North Queensland
Vanadium Project
Velox’s NQVP covers 1,246 km2 in northwest Queensland, about 500 km southwest of Townsville.
It hosts a NI 43-101 compliant Indicated Cambridge Resource of 61.33 Mt @ 0.34% V2O5 and Inferred Resource of 144.87 Mt @ 0.33% V2O5 for a total Mineral Resource of 206.2Mt @ 0.33% V2O5 and 239.7ppm MoO3.
The Project also hosts multiple other drill-ready targets that represent large areas of underexplored, prospective vanadium-rich host strata.
The North Queensland Vanadium Project is located in northwest Queensland, Australia, along the Flinders Highway between Julia Creek and Richmond.
Exploration in the Julia Creek-Richmond area was initially focused on hydrocarbons in oil shale, however the focus has shifted to vanadium exploration over the last couple of decades and the region transformed into Australia’s vanadium hub, enjoying large support from the government.
In June 2023, the Queensland Government announced an additional $245 million in new funding commitments, including a $100 million Queensland Critical Minerals and Battery Technology Fund. Of this, $75 million has been committed to the establishment of a common user facility in Townsville with the initial focus to be vanadium.
Geology
The NQVP lies within the Mesozoic Eromanga Basin. The Project area is largely underlain by sediments of the Lower Cretaceous Rolling Downs Group, which includes the Toolebuc Formation. The Toolebuc Formation is the main host of the vanadium mineralisation in the area.
The Toolebuc Formation is a flat-lying, laterally extensive sedimentary unit that consists of black carbonaceous and bituminous shale, minor siltstone with limestone lenses and coquinites. Within Velox’s tenure there is ~76km of mapped Toolebuc Formation, providing the opportunity for shallow, low-cost mineralisation.
Vanadium mineralisation in the area has been documented to extend for several kilometres along strike, as found at the Lilyvale deposit adjacent to the NQVP and the Cambridge prospect on the NQVP.
Mineral Resource
In 2018, Liontown commissioned Optiro Pty Ltd. (Optiro) to generate a mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Cambridge vanadium deposit, which is located on EPM 26494.
The Cambridge vanadium deposit is adjacent to and immediately east of the Lilyvale vanadium deposit owned by Richmond Vanadium.
The Cambridge deposit has been delineated over an area of 5 km by 3 km. The mineralisation extends from surface to 22 m below surface and ranges in thickness from 2 m to 17 m, with an average thickness of 9.7 m.
The current NI43-101 compliant Mineral Resource for Cambridge is:
Category | Tonnes (MMT) | V2O5 % | MoO3 (ppm) |
Indicated | 61.33 | 0.34 | 234.6 |
Inferred | 144.87 | 0.33 | 241.9 |
Total | 206.2 | 0.33 | 239.7 |
Subsequent drilling in the area has confirmed historical results and expanded the extent of known mineralisation in the area of the Cambridge deposit.
Regional Opportunites
The Company has mapped over 76km of Toolebuc Formation within its tenure, the primary host for vanadium mineralisation in the region.
There are a number of prospects that have either had limited drilling or no drilling, which provide opportunities to expand the Mineral Resources.
Other prospects to be followed up include Runnymede and Silver Hills. Runnymede has been drilled over an area of 3.5km x 3.5km with a best intercept of 8m @ 0.41% V2O5 from 14m depth. Mineralisation is open to the north and east.