UUUU - Vanadium Miners News For The Month Of June 2023

2023-06-29 11:42:57 ET

Summary

• Europe's vanadium pentoxide spot prices were slightly higher in the past 30 days. China and Europe ferrovanadium prices were flat.
• Vanadium market news - Cleantech Group: "strong future for VRFBs in the medium to long duration stationary energy storage sector." Australia's first commercial vanadium-flow battery storage completed.
• Vanadium company news - Australian Vanadium receives the first $9.8 million of up to $49 million in funding support for the Australian Vanadium Project from a Federal Grant.
• Phenom Resources signs an MOU with Japanese Vanadium Solid-State Battery Company.

Welcome to the Vanadium miners news.

June saw continued low vanadium prices hurting producers. There was plenty of good vanadium market news out of Australia and a very quiet month for news from the vanadium juniors.

Vanadium uses

Vanadium is traditionally used to harden steel. Chinese rebar standards are requiring more vanadium. Also Vanadium Flow Batteries [VRFBs] are becoming increasingly popular especially for commercial energy storage, most notably in China. Vanadium Pentoxide [V2O5] is used in VRFBs and Ferrovanadium [FeV] is used in the steel industry.

Vanadium spot price history

Europe Vanadium Pentoxide [V2O5] Flake 98% 1 year chart - Price = USD 7.50/lb (China price not given)

China and Europe Ferrovanadium [FeV] 80% prices - China = USD 32.50/kg, Europe = USD 32.00/kg

Vanadium demand versus supply

In 2017 Robert Friedland stated : "We think there's a revolution coming in vanadium redox flow batteries..."

An April 2021 Wood Mackenzie report stated :

Global energy storage deployment surged a remarkable 62% in 2020, with 5 GW/9 GWh of new capacity added. This brought the total energy storage market to more than 27 GWh. Furthermore, we expect the global (energy storage) market to grow 27-fold by 2030.

Research And Markets forecasts VRFBs to grow from US$237.5M in 2022 to US$1,300M by 2030 ( source )

Global VRFB forecast growth by region 2022-2031

CRU forecasts vanadium demand to double by 2032 mostly due to VRFB's ( source ) (As of January 2023)

Large scale global deployments of VRFB's are becoming more common (source)

Vanadium market news

On June 14 Cleantech Group reported (emphasis added):

Vanadium Flow Batteries vs. Alternative Battery Chemistries: Who Will Dominate the Medium-to-Long Duration Energy Storage Market Near-Term?...... VRFBs are the most developed and commercially available type of flow battery currently available on the market..... CapEx costs for VRFBs can be up to 3x more than Li-Ion...... However, despite the historic volatility associated with VRFBs, the emerging market for medium and long duration storage systems will drive substantial market growth for this sector. In China, a Dalian Rongke project of 100MW/ 400MWh is set to be the largest flow battery on record, almost doubling the previous capacity of flow battery projects worldwide. On top of that, two 1 GWh projects are set to come online in China in 2023 further showing the growing appetite for this technology...... Invinity , CellCube , Largo , Bushveld Minerals and Dalian Rongke are either currently providing, or looking at exploring, electrolyte leasing options. Vanadium can be easily recovered from electrolytes which supports this model. Additionally, primary producers of vanadium, like Largo and Bushveld Minerals, are vertically integrating and supporting the growth of the VRFB sector......

Note: Bold emphasis by the author.

On June 20 the Australian Government announced : "Critical Minerals Strategy 2023-2030....."

On June 23 PV Magazine reported :

State puts vanadium tech to test as 'Australian first' manufacturing plant opened. Critical energy minerals company Vecco Group has celebrated the official opening of Australia's first commercial-scale vanadium battery electrolyte manufacturing facility in Townsville by announcing it has secured a contract to provide Energy Queensland with the state's first grid-scale vanadium flow battery. Brisbane-based Vecco Group will team with Japanese manufacturer Sumitomo Electric to supply state government-owned Energy Queensland with a 250 kW/750 kWh vanadium flow battery that will be connected to the grid in the state's south-east as part of a trial of the technology.

On June 23 ABC News reported :

Australia's first commercial vanadium-flow battery storage completed in South Australia.....and is expected to be running and exporting power by August......Yadlamalka Energy has been undertaking the Spencer Energy Project at Bungama, outside of Port Pirie, where the 2-megawatt/8MW-hour battery is connected to a grid of solar panels. The battery will store around 10 gigawatts of dispatchable solar power each year and charge from excess electricity produced by the solar panels when the sun is at its peak. The power will be delivered to households at night when the grid loads are high from demand and when no solar generation is available......"Introducing vanadium batteries will reduce peak energy prices in Australia."

On June 26 The U.S Department of State announced :

The United States and Mongolia sign MOU to collaborate on Critical Minerals.....This MOU includes a framework for Mongolia and the United States to work together on technical areas of support to further Mongolia's efforts to develop capacity to encourage investment in its mineral resource sector, which is vital to the global clean energy transition.

On June 27 The Queensland Government announced :

Queensland Critical Minerals Strategy......Queensland's critical minerals will be needed to build the wind and solar farms and batteries to deliver on our plan for 70 per cent renewable energy by 2032.

On June 27 The Queensland Government announced :

Strategy to grow Queensland's critical mineral sector. The Palaszczuk Government has unveiled a new strategy to oversee a $245 million investment into the state's critical minerals sector.......Deliver the $100 million Critical Minerals and Battery Technology Fund to support new investments in projects...... "Queensland has vast reserves of critical minerals, such as copper, zinc, vanadium and cobalt, that the world is demanding to produce batteries and renewable energy as part of their plans to decarbonize".

Vanadium miner news

Vanadium producers

G lencore [LSX:GLEN] [HK:805] (OTC: OTCPK:GLCNF )

Glencore is a large vanadium producer, but vanadium production represents only a small portion of their revenue.

No vanadium related news.

AMG Critical Materials N.V. [NA:AMG] [GR:ADG] ( OTCPK:AMVMF )

AMG Vanadium is a leading provider of products and services for the metals, manufacturing, refinery and petrochemical industries. AMG Vanadium produces ferrovanadium and related ferroalloys from spent refinery catalysts using a proprietary pyrometallurgical process. In January 2023, AMG announced plans to build a Vanadium Electrolyte plant in Germany with production expected to start at the end of 2023.

No vanadium news for the month.

You can view the latest investor presentation here and a Trend investing article here .

Bushveld Minerals Limited [LN- AIM:BMN] ( OTC:BSHVF )

Bushveld is a diversified AIM-listed resources company with a portfolio of vanadium, tin and coal assets in Southern Africa and Madagascar.

On June 21 Bushveld Minerals announced : "Full year results for the 12-month period ended 31 December 2022." Highlights include:

FY2022 Financial Highlights

• "Revenue of US$148.4 million (2021: US$106.9 million).
• Underlying EBITDA ¹ of US$22.3 million and adjusted EBITDA ¹ loss of US$1.7 million (2021: Underlying EBITDA loss US$7.5 million and adjusted EBITDA loss of US$9.9 million).
• Impairment losses of US$24.0 million (2021: US$2.4 million) of which US$$17.2 million relates to Vanchem. The Group previously recognized US$60.6 million gain on bargain purchase on the acquisition of Vanchem in 2019.
• Net loss of US$35.4 million (2021: US$34.2 million).
• Free cash flow ² of US$14.6 million (2021: negative US$19.3 million).
• Cash and cash equivalents of US$10.9 million (2021: US$15.4 million).
• Net debt of US$79.5 million (2021:US$68.9 million).
• Net debt excluding the Orion Production Financing Agreement US$44.4 million (2021:US$35.4 million)."

Group Priorities and Outlook

• "The Group has made significant progress with the legal documentation to refinance its existing convertible loan note with Orion Mine Finance ("Orion") of c.US$45 million (capital plus interest).
• On track to meet 2023 production guidance of between 4,200 mtV and 4,500 mtV, and weighted average production cash cost (C1) guidance of between US$26.1kgV and US$27.0/kgV, (ZAR447/kgV and 438/kgV).
• Bushveld Electrolyte plant (BELCO) and the Vametco hybrid mini-grid to be fully operational during the second half of 2023.
• Complete the Bushveld Energy carve-out."

You can view the latest investor presentation here .

Largo Inc. [TSX:LGO] [GR:LR81] ( LGORF )(NASDAQ: LGO )

Largo Inc. is a pure-play vanadium pentoxide producer from their Maracás Menchen mine in Brazil as well as a producer of VRFBs.

No news for the month.

You can view the latest investor presentation here .

Energy Fuels Inc. [TSX:EFR] ( UUUU )

Energy Fuels state they are "the No. 1 uranium producer in the U.S. with a market-leading portfolio", as well as being a small vanadium producer.

No news for the month.

Ferro-Alloy Resources [LON:FAR]

FAR is developing the giant Balasausqandiq vanadium deposit in Kyzylordinskaya Oblast of southern Kazakhstan. FAR state: "The ore at this site has a significantly higher grade than all other primary vanadium extraction sites, which allows for much lower processing costs."

No news for the month.

Western Uranium & Vanadium Corp. ( OTCQX:WSTRF )

Western Uranium & Vanadium Corp. own the Sunday Mine Complex which is an advanced stage mine property consisting of five interconnected underground mines in Colorado, USA.

On June 21 Western Uranium & Vanadium Corp. announced :

Western Uranium & Vanadium Corp. operations updates. The development of the Company's new state-of-the-art mineral processing plant continues to progress well. The Utah mill site in the Green River Industrial Park has been upsized through the addition of adjacent land. This allows the future scale of operation to be increased beyond the initial planned annual production of two million pounds of uranium and six to eight million pounds of vanadium. Maverick Strategic Minerals Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Western, was formed as an operating entity for the purpose of developing, building, owning and operating the mineral processing facility. The selection process for engineering, environmental, and permitting contractors remains ongoing.

Investors can read the latest company presentation here .

Vanadium developers

Neometals [ASX:NMT] ( OTCPK:RDRUY ) ( OTCPK:RRSSF )

Neometals 100% own the Barrambie Titanium Vanadium Iron Project in Western Australia. Barrambie's Eastern Band is one of the highest grade hard rock titanium deposits globally.

No vanadium related news for the month.

You can view the latest investor presentation here.

Australian Vanadium [ASX:AVL] [GR:JT71] ( ATVVF )

Australian Vanadium is an emerging vanadium producer focused on their Australian Vanadium Project in Western Australia. VSUN Energy was launched by AVL in 2016 to target the energy storage market for vanadium redox flow batteries [VRFBs].

On June 6 Australian Vanadium announced :

$9.8 million received from Federal Grant.....The Grant provides up to $49 million in funding support for the Australian Vanadium Project to assist the Company, in collaboration with industry partners, to create an Australian vanadium battery industry. The Company is pleased to advise that it has now received the first milestone payment of $9.8 million (plus GST) under the Grant.

You can view the latest investor presentation here , or read a Trend Investing CEO interview here .

Technology Metals Australia [ASX:TMT]

The Company's primary exploration focus is on the 100% owned Gabanintha Vanadium Project located 40km south east of Meekatharra in the mid-west region of Western Australia. Technology Metals Australia has combined the high grade, high quality Yarrabubba deposit with the Gabanintha Vanadium Deposit to form the Murchison Technology Metals Project (MTMP).

No significant news for the month.

You can view the latest investor presentation here .

Tivan Limited [ASX:TVN] (formerly TNG Ltd [ASX:TNG]( TNGZF )

Tivan Limited is an Australian resources company focused on the evaluation and development of its Mount Peake Vanadium-Titanium-Iron project. The Mount Peake Project is located 235km north-northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. Tivan Limited is well advanced with a massive $4.7b NPV8%, but relies on titanium and iron with a lower grade vanadium by-product. Tivian 100% owns the Speewah Mining Pty Ltd (from King River Resources Limited [ASX:KRR]) the owner of the Speewah Vanadium-Titanium-Iron project in WA.

No vanadium related news for the month.

You can view the latest investor presentations here .

Vanadium Resources Limited [ASX:VR8] [GR:TR3]

Vanadium Resources is a junior exploration company established with the purpose of exploring and developing gold zinc, lead, copper and other mineral opportunities. Vanadium Resources owns 86.49% of a globally significant vanadium project, the Steelpoortdrift [SPD] Project, in Gauteng Province, South Africa.

No significant news for the month.

You can view the latest investor presentation here .

VanadiumCorp Resource Inc. [TSXV:VRB][GR:NWN] ( VRBFF )

VanadiumCorp Resources Inc. 100% owns the Lac Dore Vanadium-Iron-Titanium project in Quebec Canada. The Company also has royalties on the Raglan Nickel-PGM mine. The Company is looking to take a vertically integrated approach and is also developing leading process technologies 'VanadiumCorp-Electrochem Processing Technology' and "Electrochem globally patented Electrowinning" technology.

No news for the month.

You can view the latest investor presentation here.

Richmond Vanadium Technologies Pty Ltd [ASX:RVT]

RVT now owns 100% of the Richmond Vanadium Project. It has a global Mineral Resource of 1.8Bt @ 0.36% Vanadium Pentoxide (V2O5).

No significant news for the month.

Phenom Resources Corp. [TSXV:PHNM] ( OTCQX:PHNMF ) (formerly First Vanadium Corp.)

The Carlin Gold-Vanadium Property hosts one of North America's largest richest primary vanadium deposits, located in Nevada. Its West Jerome project targets a large scale high grade copper and zinc deposit in Arizona. Carlin has a Historic Inferred Resource 28Mt at 0.525% V2O5 (2010 SRK).

On May 31 Phenom Resources Corp. announced :

Phenom Signs MOU with Japanese Vanadium Solid-State Battery Company.....The non-binding MOU describes the principles and proposed terms and conditions of an Off-Take Agreement between MK Plus Co., Ltd. (MK Plus) and Phenom whereby Phenom will commit to providing 20% of its future Carlin Vanadium Project production concentrates to MK Plus at fair market value. In exchange for this commitment, MK Plus will, on signing a Definitive Off-Take Agreement, issue to Phenom 5% of MK Plus's issued and outstanding shares. Phenom's interest will be non-dilutive until MK Plus's market valuation exceeds US$500 million after which Phenom's interest in MK Plus may be diluted but will not fall below 3%.

For further details see: