Mount Ridley adds vanadium to Selectro’s menu with 96pc recovery

• Selectro recovers 96% vanadium, 49% titanium and 78% iron from titanomagnetite
• Third successful feed test strengthens the case for Selectro licensing opportunities
• Results build on other successful recoveries including rare earths, scandium, and gallium

Special Report:Mount Ridley Mines has added another hit to the repertoire of its proprietary Selectro processing technology, recovering 96% vanadium alongside titanium and iron from titanomagnetite in its latest third-party feed test.

The results further demonstrate the versatility of Mount Ridley Mines (ASX:MRD) wholly owned, patent-pending Selectro process, which has now been successfully tested on three distinct feed types covering a broad range of critical and industrial metals.

The two-stage leaching test on a third-party titanomagnetite sample achieved combined recoveries of 95.5% vanadium, 48.6% titanium and 77.6% iron, without requiring the high-temperature salt roasting typically used in conventional titanomagnetite processing.

The sample had a head grade of 1.30% vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), 14.2% titanium dioxide (TiO2) and 52.3% iron.

Selectro initially leached vanadium and iron preferentially, leaving a titanium-rich residue grading 21.5% TiO2.

A second leaching stage using fresh solution subsequently increased overall titanium recovery more than fivefold, from around 9% after the first stage to approximately 48%, with titanium preferentially leached over iron.

Conventional titanomagnetite processing generally involves high-temperature roasting to extract vanadium, with titanium and iron largely remaining in the residue.

By recovering multiple metals using the same underlying chemistry without that roasting step, Mount Ridley believes Selectro could potentially reduce processing costs and complexity while improving the economics of titanomagnetite projects.

Mount Ridley managing director and CEO Allister Caird said the result provided further evidence of Selectro’s potential beyond the company’s flagship Grass Patch project.

“Building on the strong results achieved from bauxite, this result is further evidence that Selectro is a processing platform with application well beyond Grass Patch,” he said.

“Titanomagnetite is the world’s primary source of vanadium but it has historically been processed for vanadium alone. Recovering 96% of the vanadium from the sample while also bringing titanium and iron into solution shows Selectro has the potential to unlock more value from this feed, which could improve the economics of titanomagnetite projects.”

A growing list of processing successes

Titanomagnetite becomes the third distinct mineral feed successfully tested using Selectro, following encouraging results from the company’s own Grass Patch clay material and third-party Darling Range bauxite.

The latest test strengthens Mount Ridley’s ambition to develop Selectro into a processing platform capable of treating multiple commodities, with licensing to third-party project owners forming a key part of its commercialisation strategy.

In October, the technology achieved recoveries of 94.9% gallium, 91.9% aluminium and 96.7% iron from a Darling Range bauxite sample supplied by ASQ. The bauxite processing also left behind a silica-rich residue, as opposed to the typical red mud – suggesting environmental advantages to the process.

Those results expanded Selectro’s potential applications into a new industrial feedstock and followed earlier successful testwork on scandium, rare earths and gallium at Grass Patch.

At the company’s flagship project, Selectro has achieved scandium recovery of 91.8%, heavy rare earth recoveries of up to 86% (averaging around 84%) and light rare earth recoveries of up to 81% (averaging around 77%).

Gallium recovery from the same Grass Patch test reached 41.5%, with the latest results achieved using approximately half the reagent dose of earlier testing.

Together, the three feed types demonstrate Selectro’s ability to leach different combinations of metals, with the chemistry tuned to favour particular elements.

Mount Ridley has also lodged a second provisional patent application covering industrial metals processing, separate from its original application focused on scandium, rare earths and gallium.

Vanadium opportunity extends to energy storage

The titanomagnetite results also expose Selectro to vanadium, a metal traditionally used to strengthen steel but increasingly attracting attention for its application in long-duration energy storage.

Vanadium redox flow batteries store energy in a non-flammable liquid electrolyte and are suited to large-scale stationary energy storage applications, including supporting electricity grids with increasing renewable energy generation.

The US Geological Survey estimates China accounted for around three-quarters of global vanadium mine production in 2025, underscoring the concentrated nature of existing supply.

Australia has also backed the technology, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency previously committing $5.7 million to support a grid-scale vanadium flow battery project in South Australia.

Mount Ridley sees opportunities for Selectro to potentially support more competitive vanadium production by enabling the recovery of additional metals from titanomagnetite.

Titanium also provides a link to the company’s scandium ambitions.

Grass Patch, approximately 25km north of Esperance in Western Australia, hosts a 946.1Mt Inferred scandium resource containing 47,357 tonnes of scandium metal.

Under Mount Ridley’s CSIRO Kick-Start program, titanium-scandium alloys are being assessed alongside aluminium-scandium alloys for potential advanced manufacturing applications.

Caird said the sequence of metal recovery from titanomagnetite was particularly encouraging.

“Just as encouraging is the way Selectro worked through the sample, taking vanadium and iron first and titanium second, with titanium recovery lifting more than fivefold in the second stage, which essentially acts as a proxy for separation,” he said.

Demonstration plant moves into focus

With three mineral feeds now tested, Mount Ridley is progressing discussions with engineering groups on the design of a Selectro demonstration plant.

The company believes the facility could help demonstrate the technology’s performance across different third-party feedstocks and its own Grass Patch material, providing a platform for engagement with potential licensees and partners.

Meanwhile, a larger-scale bauxite test is being progressed to demonstrate separation and purification stages, with the aim of proving the complete mine-to-metal processing pathway.

Mount Ridley also plans to engage vanadium and titanium producers following the latest titanomagnetite results.

Additional third-party feed testing may be considered in 2027, depending on the commercial opportunities presented.

This article was developed in collaboration with Mount Ridley Mines, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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