Energy Minerals Investor Hub: What is the latest on the project financing front and, given the 2017 scheduled financing completion, can you provide any specific upcoming dates of significance yet? Also note Gresham’s appointment last month as financial advisors. What are the key dates attached to their primary assignments?

Paul Burton: Gresham’s appointment in September is a major step towards the financing of Mount Peake project. Gresham is already working with major industrial groups and financial institutions including SMS, the German Export Credit Bank … to evaluate the best strategy for TNG. We will keep our shareholders and the market closely updated on our progress.

Energy Minerals Investor Hub: What/where are the most encouraging signs you are seeing of this scale and type of project being funded and developed around the world?

Paul Burton: We are definitely encouraged by the current positive upturn of the mining industry. However, we see very few projects of size being financed now and it poses questions for the long term supply of key commodities. I believe it bodes well for the future price of our products but badly for our industry’s ability to think long term. Within a cyclical industry, TNG’s timing seems ideal. 

Energy Minerals Investor Hub: You’ve got a world-class project that high-level studies have shown has an NPV of A$4.5 billion, with attractive IRR (42%), which looks to be capable of generating very significant annual cash flow and earnings. Yet TNG’s current market cap is sub-A$100 million. Is that disconnect solely due to financing status/what else?

Paul Burton: Junior companies have been badly hit in the previous mining downturn and despite TNG’s great developments and project, our share price is still nowhere near reflecting our potential. Last month, two research reports indicated a target price at 2-4-times the current share price. It is disappointing in a way, but we have sufficient cash to continue forward and there is no doubt that the market will recognise the disconnect and value proposition sooner or later.

Energy Minerals Investor Hub: What about further technical de-risking – where is the focus there?

Paul Burton: We are continuously looking for ways to improve our technology and announced significant opex savings compared to our DFS in August. We are now very happy and confident about our 100%-owned TIVAN technology and need to focus on financing and construction.

Energy Minerals Investor Hub: What are the latest developments vis-à-vis titanium product marketing?

Paul Burton: We are in advanced discussions with major players in the TiO2 industry and have made significant progress on this front. We will keep our shareholders and the market updated shortly.

Energy Minerals Investor Hub: You announced in September the production of a commercial vanadium electrolyte product in Austria. Firstly, to put that in context, how many/which other developing projects passed that test? How do you see TNG/Mount Peake positioned, relative to emerging/current competitors?

Paul Burton: To my knowledge, TNG is the only developing project to produce a commercial vanadium electrolyte. That positions us extremely well to address the fast growing VRB industry. We believe that Australia is an ideal market for the VRB applications that are focused on large-scale energy storage projects.

Energy Minerals Investor Hub: You’ve also mentioned the vanadium redox battery (VRB) market currently consuming about 4,000tpa of vanadium. You’re looking to produce 17,560tpa of V2O5. So how much of that VRB segment are you looking to address?

Paul Burton: The majority (60% minimum) of our V2O5 is committed to Woojin under our life-of-mine offtake agreement. The VRB market is still small but growing fast – high double-digit numbers – and of high value. By the time the Mount Peake project comes on stream we expect that VRB customers could represent 10-20% of our V2O5 sales volume.

Energy Minerals Investor Hub: What is driving the double-digit growth in VRB vanadium demand/where is it being driven from?

Paul Burton: VRBs are addressing a key demand in the larger communities and industrial energy storage market. They are currently being deployed on all continents and in a very broad array of applications.

Energy Minerals Investor Hub: What are the latest/most telling signs you’re seeing with regard to the pricing of products in your (Mount Peake) portfolio?

Paul Burton: We are seeing prices of our three commodities move up from their recent historical lows. The industry is probably rationalising after a very depressed period. In terms of timing, very few projects are being developed now and Mount Peake should benefit from the gap in the supply/demand at the time it starts production.

Energy Minerals Investor Hub: Finally, what is the current status of the proposed Todd River Resources IPO/scheduling at all influenced by what you’re seeing in zinc and gold markets?

Paul Burton: EGM scheduled for shareholder approval on 29 November 2016. IPO expected in March 2017.