VR's Steelpoortdrift has been estimated to have a net present value of $401 million (based on the current vanadium price), while the internal rate of return is put at 41-45% in the case of 50:50 debt:equity financing.

The scoping work was based on a proposed 1.6 million tonne per annum standalone mining, beneficiation and processing operation to produce between 8500 and 9400t of high purity vanadium flake per annum.

However, VR's immediate challenge is to bring some dollars in the door given cash at the start of the current quarter of A$249,000.

VR is led by managing director Bill Oliver, a geologist and resource sector entrepreneur long active in the African resources space.