Horizon holds a 25 per cent stake in the project with the rest held by Richmond Vanadium Technology. The total would be combined into the float and Horizon said it would distribute half of its holding.

The company estimated there would be an initial workforce of about 200.

The project, near Richmond, is one of a number of vanadium projects in the region. Others in include QEM and Multicom’s St Elmo project.

Vanadium is used in steel fabrication but is also a critical mineral in a particular type of battery, known as redox flow batteries, that suits large scale or grid use.

The State Government has also recently announced it would build a $10 million vanadium processing centre in the north to help develop the industry.

A pre-feasbility of the project found a capital cost for a 20 year mine of $248 million. It had a net present value of more than $1 billion. A bankable feasibility study would examine the refining of the ore in Australia.

Horizon said discussions were underway for off-take agreements and it had applied to the State Government for classification as a co-ordinated project.

Horizon managing director Jon Price said there had been sustained price increases for vanadium and increased demand for grid-scale storage.

“It couldn’t be a better time to be advancing this world-class project,” Price said.

He said Horizon shareholders would get priority in the IPO, the details of which were likely to be announced in the June quarter.

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