If developed the Julia Creek project will play both ends of the energy field by supplying oil as well as vanadium, which is a key component in grid-scale batteries.

The State Government has already back vanadium with funding for a processing centre in north Queensland and Multicom’s St Elmo vanadium project, also near Julia Creek, is being developed.

QEM has announced today the grade and size of the vanadium at its project had been upgraded to 2850 million tonnes.

The project also has aluminium and QEM has said the recent estimates showed that there was a need for further investigation.

The oil estimates were classified as 2C which is defined as the best estimate of contingent resources.

QEM managing director Gavin Loyden said the resource upgrade at Julia Creek was a major development for the company.

“We’ve substantially bolstered the confidence level in both vanadium and oil shale resources bases, propelling us towards realising our ambition of developing Australia’s critical minerals resources and delivering innovative energy solutions,” he said.

The company recently received a pilot plant which would allow for bench scale testing.

Loyden said the testing would enable the company to assess the potential upside of high purity aluminium at the Julia Creek site.

The oil shale found at Julia Creek sits over the top of the vanadium.