Name of the Project
Speewah fluorite project.

Location
About 100 km south of the Port of Wyndham, and 110 km south-west of Kununurra, in the Kimberley region of north-east Western Australia.

Project Owner/s
The Speewah project is being advanced through an incorporated joint venture between critical minerals company Tivan, integrated trading company Sumitomo, and Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security. Japan Fluorite, a special purpose vehicle formed by the Japanese partners, has made an initial A$5.3-million investment to fund a feasibility study.

Project Description
The Speewah project hosts two world-class critical mineral deposits:

• Speewah fluorite – Australia’s only Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant fluorspar resource, with world-class scale, grade and mineralogy, which supports high recovery rates.
• Speewah vanadium – the largest reported vanadium in titanomagnetite resource, in Australia, and one of the largest globally.

Using on-site processing, the Speewah fluorite project will produce a 97% acid-grade fluorspar product.

The project is expected to produce 1.48-million tonnes of fluorspar over its 10.6-year mine life. Life-of-mine average production is estimated at 130 700 t/y.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Assuming an 8% discount rate, the project has a pretax net present value of A$480.1-million and an internal rate of return of 37.9%, with a payback of 2.6 years from the start of operations.

Capital Expenditure
Preproduction capital is estimated at A$263-million.

Planned Start/End Date
First production is scheduled for 2027.

Latest Developments
Tivan has secured early-stage support from two Australian government financing bodies as it seeks to develop the country’s first fluorite mining and processing operation in Western Australia.

The company has received a nonbinding and conditional letter of support from Export Finance Australia (EFA) and progressed into the due diligence phase with the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF).

Tivan’s broader financing strategy includes conditional equity investments of up to A$60.3-million from its Japanese partners and a separate nonbinding term sheet for a minimum A$51.3-million from an Australian family office investor.

Provision of EFA or NAIF funding remains subject to customary due diligence and internal approvals. Neither agency has committed to providing financing at this stage.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Hatch (prefeasibility study review).

Contact Details for Project Information
Tivan, tel +61 8 9327 0900 or email engagement@tivan.com.au.