Expands investment in Vecco, which promotes vanadium business in Australia; promotes the development of low-carbon businesses in response to the global energy transition

Vecco is proceeding with a vanadium mine and electrolyte plant project (project name: Debella Project, hereinafter referred to as the "Project") in Queensland, Australia. The project aims to build a value chain of local production for local consumption, including the mining of vanadium-containing ores, refining them into vanadium pentoxide, and producing vanadium electrolytes for redox flow batteries. With this capital increase, Vecco will raise a total of an additional A$10 million, which will be used for project feasibility studies, environmental approvals, refining and refining tests, mining area application costs, etc. A portion of the funds will also be used for research and development of the final product.

A redox flow battery is a battery that stores energy in an electrolyte. It has characteristics suitable for large storage batteries for power systems, such as easy expansion of battery capacity and long life, and is attracting attention for contributing to the promotion of the introduction of renewable energy.

The project's first goal is to start operating a vanadium electrolyte manufacturing plant for redox flow batteries (annual production: approximately 35 MWh) by the end of this year. This will be Australia's first commercial-scale electrolyte manufacturing facility, and its construction will be supported by the Queensland Government's Public-Private Partnership Program (Industry Partnership Program) ^*2, which is linked to the storage battery industry promotion policy. In the future, we plan to increase the production capacity of vanadium electrolyte to more than 350MWh per year. The goal is to start mining vanadium through mine development in 2024.

【project overview】

• 1. Project name
  Debella Project
• 2. Resources expected to be mined and produced
  Main products: Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5)/vanadium electrolyte
  Associated by-product: High purity alumina (HPA) ^*3, rare earth
• 3. Mine location
  Julia Creek, Queensland (650km west of Townsville)
• 4.URL
  https://veccogroup.com.au/operations/debella-v-hpa-project/
• Five. project image
  
  

In order to contribute to the realization of carbon neutrality society while fulfilling our responsibility to provide a stable supply of energy, Vision for 2030 is to become a "Your Reliable Partner for a Brighter Future."
Additionally, in the "Medium-term Management Plan (FY2023-2025)" announced on November 16th last year, we newly established Vision for 2050 "Shaping Change." As the energy transition toward decarbonization accelerates around the world, we are leveraging the business foundation we have built through approximately 40 years of coal mining operations in Australia to enter the rare metals business and gain knowledge. Masu. As a Japanese company, we see this as an opportunity to have a business base in Australia, which is leading the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, and will continue to proactively respond to Australia's energy transition, as well as develop low-carbon and decarbonized businesses. We will work to create the following.