Vanadium – Heard it on the GrapevineCHRISTOPHER ECCLESTONE | JULY 18, 2017 | 11 COMMENTS In the mining sector if one hangs around long enough, that which was once a subject of excitement and then fell from favour eventually comes around again. In the case of Rare Earths though one had to wait from the 1960s until the early 2000s to see them return as a talking point.Last decade Vanadium surfaced as a subject of interest primarily tied to the fortunes of the then-booming steel industry. Now Vanadium is coming back with a vengeance for its potential in mass electricity storage devices, namely the Vanadium Redox Battery (or VRB). At the recent Natural Resources Forum event at the London Stock Exchange, which I attended, the guest speaker was Robert Friedland and he was in a Vanadium-induced ecstasy. Never could we have imagined the metal having such a euphoric effect. In any case it gave the Friedland imprimatur to a metal which most metals watchers have rarely paid any attention to due to it (largely) being a by-product of other mining and curiously of the petroleum refining industry.It was not just Friedland though that has latched onto this bandwagon as we have heard Vanadium name-checked at a number of recent events recently as the next best thing now that Lithium has somewhat done its dash with promoters overcooking the soufflé.VRB – Go with the FlowThe current end use of the bulk of Vanadium production is well-known with its strict correlation with steel consumption. New uses are potential X factor for the Vanadium space. While aerospace has been growing organically and increasing its share of the usage of the metal the area with the best potential for a quantum leap is in battery applications.Chief amongst these is the Vanadium Redox (and redox flow) battery (VRB), which is a type of rechargeable flow battery that employs Vanadium ions in different oxidation states to store chemical potential energy. The present form (with sulfuric acid electrolytes) was patented by the University of New South Wales in Australia in 1986 where scientists carried out the first known successful demonstration and commercial development of the all-vanadium redox flow battery employing vanadium in a solution of sulfuric acid in each half in the 1980s. Although the use of vanadium in batteries had been suggested back in the 1970s by a number of scientists including some at NASA. {GET OUR DAILY INVESTORINTEL UPDATE
Your Email Subscribe } There are currently a number of suppliers and developers of these battery systems including Ashlawn Energy in the United States, Renewable Energy Dynamics (RED-T) in Ireland, Cellstrom GmbH in Austria, Cellennium in Thailand, and Prudent Energy in the United States and China. The vanadium redox battery results from over 25 years of research, development, testing and evaluation in Australia, Europe, North America and elsewhere.The image that follows gives a good idea of one of the more practical applications of such batteries. In this case the solar panels collect energy during the day and store it in the battery for release during the period when the solar panels cannot access sunlight. Source: Cellstrom GMBH A vanadium redox battery consists of an assembly of power cells in which two vanadium-based electrolytes are separated by a proton exchange membrane. The battery exploits the ability of vanadium to exist in solution in four different oxidation states, and uses this property to make a battery that has just one electroactive element instead of two. Source: Vanadiumsite.com The main advantages of the vanadium redox battery are that it can offer almost unlimited capacity simply by using larger and larger storage tanks, it can be left completely discharged for long periods with no ill effects, it can be recharged simply by replacing the electrolyte if no power source is available to charge it, and if the electrolytes are accidentally mixed the battery suffers no permanent damage. The VRB has also been shown to have the least ecological impact of all energy storage technologies.The main disadvantages with vanadium redox technology are a relatively poor energy-to-volume ratio, and the system complexity in comparison with standard storage batteries.Another emerging technology is the use of lithium-vanadium phosphate or fluorophosphate cathodes and lithium-vanadium oxide anodes in rechargeable lithium batteries. These batteries exhibit greater safety compared with the more generic lithium-cobalt oxide type cathodes seen in cellular telephone or laptop batteries (which have higher operating voltages and higher rates of energy storage). The vanadium phosphate cathode material can support 20% more energy storage than the conventional cobalt oxide, as much as 26% more than iron phosphate, and 56% more than manganese oxide. However, in order for such a battery to be practical, the cost of the battery is critical. Source: Subaru Several years ago Subaru developed a prototype of its G4e electric car (pictured above), powered by lithium-vanadium phosphate batteries. This concept car has a 200-km range that is provided by a relatively small vanadium phosphate battery pack, double what their earlier R1e concept car could achieve. However, it would appear that Subaru have done little with the concept of late. Maybe the patents need dusting off in the light of Cobalt’s perilous surge in price.Largo Resources – the Primary ExposureThe most obvious pure exposure to Vanadium mining (rather just a project is Largo Resources Ltd. (TSX: LGO | OTCQB: LGORF) with its Maracas mine in Brazil. This has been in operation for several years now and has been growing impressively in terms of production (see table below), meanwhile its production costs have been falling (helped by the weakness of the Real against the US dollar) and the Vanadium price has been rising.The company has given guidance that production in FY17 should be around 9,361 tonnes (equivalent to ~ 20.6 mn lbs). The company expects monthly output of 840 tonnes of V2O5 from May 2017 onwards.This virtuous circle has replaced a rather vicious cycle that had previously reigned for the company producing some quite eye watering losses (see earnings table below) in the not too distant past. Producing more meant greater losses while now producing more signals that profitability is within shouting distance.As the table shows the gross loss has shriveled to levels at which it is most likely to turn a profit at that level fairly soon and hopefully at the bottom line by the end of the current fiscal year.ConclusionIt’s a long while since I (at Hallgarten) wrote my magnum opus on Vanadium back in early 2012. Strangely the field of players has not expanded (nor contracted) too much since then. It is the same hardy group of survivors with the producer being Largo Resources (only a project back then) while others like NextSource (back then called Energizer Resources) with its Green Giant in Madagascar and the perpetual bridesmaid of the space, American Vanadium. Back in those days Neometals (then Reed Resources) was expounding on the Vanadium potential of Barrambie (now refocused as a Titanium project) and we had been talking, as far back as 2010, to Apella Resources (name changed to VanadiumCorp) about its Iron-T deposit that has now moved into the camp of Alix Resources (spoiler alert: I sit on the advisory board of Alix).With Vanadium Redox being the intelligent chatter of the day (or year) it won’t be long before these players start to reappear on the radar and others join them. Largo definitely has the jump on most of them and has had an expensive learning curve behind it. Not all Vanadium deposits are the same though so some of the lessons learnt by Largo may not translate for all wannabes on the scene. In any case, this opens up the battery metals debate to another realistic alternative. The more the merrier, we would say.CLEANTECH INTEL TECHNOLOGY METALS INTEL Twitter Link Linked In 11 Email Article Get PDF of Article Print Article
Christopher Ecclestone EDITOR: CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTONE
Christopher Ecclestone is the EU Editor for InvestorIntel and is a Principal and mining strategist at Hallgarten & Company in London. Prior to founding Hallgarten ... <READ MORE ABOUT CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTONE>
Alix Acquires Properties In The Golden Triangle, B.C. V.AIX | 10 minutes ago Alix Acquires Properties In The Golden Triangle, B.C.
Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCwire) - ALIX RESOURCES CORP. (“Alix” or the “Company”) (AIX-TSX:V) (37N–FRANKFURT) is pleased to announce the signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire a 100% interest in a property package comprising five claim blocks located 19 to 40 kilometres northeast of Stewart, British Columbia, in the Golden Triangle. The properties are prospective for gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc.
Summary
Portland Property Kelly Girl Claim Lucky Date Claim About the Golden Triangle Deal Terms Portland Property
The Portland Property, the largest claim block, comprises 2,416 hectares and covers both the Victor and Portland MINFILE occurrences. The property is located approximately 19 kilometres northeast of Stewart and is traversed by Hwy 37A. Both targets have been subject to historical surface and underground activity dating from the early 1900’s, but remain relatively unexplored by modern means, with only one assessment report covering the claim area, filed in 2006.
The Portland prospect is located about 1 kilometre north of Hwy 37A, with historical work reported from 1910 through 1931. Activities focused on a north-striking, westerly-dipping quartz vein, up to 0.6 metres wide, in a zone of brecciated argillite. The vein was exposed in a 60-metre-long tunnel, with pyrite reported as the principal sulphide. A grab sample assayed 8.6 g/t Au and 432 g/t Ag. (1) (9) *
The Victor Showing is located just south of Hwy 37A, 21 kilometres northeast of Stewart, with historic work reported from 1909 to 1910. The showing comprises a series of open cuts and an adit at least 43 metres in length. Mineralization at the adit comprises a fracture zone at the contact of a porphyry dike in argillite and hosts at least two lenses of nearly massive sphalerite-galena. The northwestern lens is 6.1 metres long, 4.6 metres deep and 0.25 metre wide. The southeastern lens is about 4.6 metres long and 0.1 to 0.2 metre wide. A grab sample from the adit dump assayed trace gold, 582.9 g/t Ag, 44.0 % Pb and 22.6% Zn. (2) (7) *
Kelly Girl Claim
Approximately 3 kilometres to the west of the Portland Property, the Kelly Girl Claim comprises 36 ha and covers the Kelly Girl MINFILE showing. In 1990, an 80-centimetre chip sample assayed 3.21 g/t Au and 3.4 g/t Ag. A grab sample from nearby float assayed 4.54 g/t Au, 71.8 g/t Ag, 7.92% Cu. (3) (4) (5) *
Lucky Date Claim
Approximately 3.1 kilometres to the southeast of the Portland Property, the Lucky Date Claim comprises 54 ha and covers the plotted location of three historic MINFILE occurrences: St. Elmo, Jutland, and Lucky Date. The exact locations of these occurrences are not known, and exploration activity is reported from the 1920’s to the 1940’s, however there are no recent assessment reports covering the occurrences. (10)
On the Lucky Date showing, a channel sample collected in 1946(?) from the I.X.L. quartz vein, assayed 0.34 g/t Au, 185.1 g/t Ag, 0.15% Cu, 1.6% Pb, 6.9% Zn and 0.13% Cd (cadmium) across a width of 0.76 metre.
The Goat Vein extends over a length of 240 metres from 1067 to 1189 metres elevation. A channel sample taken in 1946(?) from an adit at 1067 metres elevation, assayed 75.4 g/t Ag, 2.90% Pb, 3.9 % Zn and 0.05% cadmium (with 0.07% Cu and nil Au) across a width of 0.71 metres. The location of this vein is not specified in the historical reports. (6) (8) *
The St. Elmo Minfile is designated by BC MINFILE as a past producer with a 13.6 tonne shipment of sorted ore mined in 1947 averaging 4,217 g/t Ag, 17.5% Pb and 22.8 % Zn. A chip sample from the upper lens assayed 2972.6 g/t Ag, 8.3 % Pb, 4.6% Zn, 0.8% Cu and 0.69 g/t Au across 0.18 metres. (11) *
* The reader is cautioned that grab samples are selected samples and are not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted on the property.
Mike England, president of Alix, states, "We are very pleased to have acquired a prospective group of properties in the heart of one of the busiest exploration gold and silver camps in Canada. Company personnel are reviewing assessment files and data on the properties and planning a site visit to commence in early September.
About the Golden Triangle
The Golden Triangle of British Columbia is currently one of the most active exploration and mine development districts in Canada. Major infrastructure improvements are in progress in the area, concurrent with extensive gold mine development, including the recent (June 20, 2017) announcement by Pretium Resources Inc., of the first gold poured at the Brucejack mine, the newest gold mine in Canada.
Terms of the Deal
Cumulative terms of the deal call for Alix to make cash payments of $100,000, issue 5 million shares and spend $300,000 over a 3-year period. A 3% NSR will be granted to the vendor with 2% purchasable by Alix at any time for $2 million.
The technical contents of this release were approved by Case Lewis, P.Geo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The properties have not been the subject of a National Instrument 43-101 report.
About Alix Resources
Alix Resources is a junior mining exploration company focused on acquisition and exploration of precious metal and lithium projects globally. Current projects are active through Joint Venture partners and/or by the Company in Sonora, Mexico, Nevada, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. Alix continues to evaluate suitable prospects that fit the mandate of the Company.
References
(1) Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 175
(2) Minister of Mines Annual Report 1910
(3) MINFILE No 104A 159
(4) Assessment Report 21244
(5) Assessment Report 22890
(6) Minister of Mines Annual Report 1946, page 80
(7) MINFILE No 104A 030
(8) MINFILE No 104A 047
(9) MINFILE No 104A 031
(10) MINFILE No 104A 046
(11) Minister of Mines Annual Report 1947, page 91
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
“Michael England”
Michael England, President, CEO, Director
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Telephone: 1-604-683-3995
Toll Free: 1-888-945-4770
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link: public://news_release_pdf/AlixAug282017.pdf Source: Alix Resources Corp. (TSX Venture:AIX) To follow Alix Resources Corp. on your favorite social media platform or financial websites, please click on the icons below.
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