A north west mine near Julia Creek is set to become a key piece of Queensland's plan to become a major supplier of rechargeable batteries.
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Vanadium flow batteries, used in the renewable energy sector, are set to be manufactured in North Queensland.
Under a new agreement, Vecco Group who have a mining project targeting production in 2024, have signed with Sumitomo Electric and Idemitsu to market, to sell and deliver the batteries.
The manufacturing supply chain is expected to be operational in 2026.
Under the non-exclusive agreement, Idemitsu plans to market, sell and deliver vanadium flow batteries to Australian customers using Sumitomo Electric hardware and Vecco's electrolyte made from vanadium mined in Queensland's north west minerals province.
Vecco Group will mine and refine high purity vanadium at their Julia Creek mine and manufacture battery electrolyte in Townsville. Detailed design for a commercial production facility is underway.
Vecco Group received support from the Industry Partnership Program to establish Australia's first vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility which is currently operational in Townsville.
"Today's announcement shows how our 75% emissions reduction target by 2035 secures investment in new blue-collar clean economy jobs across our regions," Queensland Premier Steven Miles said.
"We are taking vanadium from Julia Creek - one of the world's biggest and best vanadium resources - and turning it into batteries here creating more local jobs.
"We know those batteries will provide deep storage into our own grid, but today we are taking it a step further.
"This means manufacturing the vanadium flow batteries needed in Australia to transition to renewable energy and supplying vanadium electrolyte to the world."
