Bushveld Vametco Alloys (Pty) Ltd. operates an open-pit mine supplying ore to a vanadium processing plant located on the same properties.
The integrated mining and processing plant are located 8 km north-east of Brits, in the North West Province of South Africa.
The operation owns the new order mining right for vanadium and other associated minerals over a portion of the remaining extent of Portion 1 of the farm Uitvalgrond 431 JQ, and Portion 1 of the farm Krokodilkraal 426 JQ.
Mine
The Vametco mine is an opencast mine along a strike of approximately 3,5 km, extending in a west-east direction.
The ore body is well-defined, continuous, and dips in a north-east direction at approximately 19° - 20°.
The mine is based on a JORC-compliant resource of 181,5 Mt, including 46,2 Mt reserves.
In-magnetite vanadium grades average approximately 2% V2O5, with a life of mine of more than 30 years.
Processing Facility
Vametco’s processing plant receives ore from the co-located Vametco mine.
Vametco utilises the standard salt-roast and leach process to produce a steel-alloying vanadium carbon nitride product, called Bushveld nitro-vanadium.
Nitro-Vanadium Processing Stages
Vametco employs the standard salt-roast and leach process to produce Bushveld nitro-vanadium.
Step 1
Magnetite Concentrate:
Crushing, milling and magnetic separation to produce a magnetite concentrate with average grades of 2% V2O5 in-magnetite
Step 2
Roasting:
Sodium salt roasting the concentrate in a kiln at ±1 150°C to form a water-soluble sodium vanadates material
Step 3
Purification:
Leaching and purification, with dissolution of roasted vanadium concentrate in water, purification and precipitation of vanadium through the addition of ammonium sulphate, followed by drying and then processing in a reducing environment to produce a Modified Vanadium Oxide (MVO) product
Step 4
Nitro-Vanadium:
Briquetting and feeding the MVO into a shaft induction furnace in a nitrogen atmosphere to produce nitro-vanadium, which is used as a micro-alloy in steel production