Date: Dec 19, 2018
Primary Energy Metals Inc. (CSE-PRIM FSE: 1WZ:GR OTC: PEMTF) (“Primary” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with Exco Mining S.A. (“Exco Mining”) to amend the definitive agreement to permit the parties to independently develop a series of projects in Spain. As previously announced, the Company entered into an agreement with Exco Mining dated effective July 30, 2018 (the “Definitive Agreement”), pursuant to which the parties agreed to invest and jointly develop a series of research permits located in Spain, and commonly referred to as the Buran (Cobalt), Beatriz (Cobalt), Altair (Vanadium) and Odin (Vanadium) projects (collectively, the “Property”).
Under the terms of the amendment, Exco Mining will assign all rights to the Altair (Vanadium) permit to the Company, and the Company will be granted the right to earn up to a 90% interest in and to the Odin (Vanadium) permit by completing the issuance of 1,500,000 common shares to Exco Mining, and arranging to incur exploration expenditures of not less than €1,398,792 over the next thirty-six months. At the same time, the Company will assign all rights to the Buran (Cobalt) and Beatriz (Cobalt) projects to Exco Mining.
The Company has also arranged to engage Exco Mining to provide consulting services to the Company with respect to the administration of the Odin (Vanadium) permits, at a rate of €2,500 per month.
The amended agreement with Exco Mining will allow the parties to continue to develop the permits independently, and will allow the Company to focus on the permits which are prospective for Vanadium.
Patrick Morris CEO stated: “We are very pleased to come to an agreement that will allow us to focus on our Vanadium assets in Spain and Utah in order to achieve our near term goals to provide Vanadium, to markets in Europe and abroad. Vanadium prices have risen by over 150% in the past year due to a number of factors, including production cuts and significant increases in demand due to the implementation on November 1, 2018 of new rebar standards in China that can only be achieved through increased use of Vanadium (with limited substitution). So much so that prices in China have tripled over this year after the passage of this law that requires the country’s construction companies to use Vanadium in steel bars to increase the resistance of buildings against earthquakes and other natural catastrophes. In addition, Vanadium demand could increase significantly in the coming years due to the commercialization of (Redox) Vanadium batteries used in connection with off-grid storage. In fact, the International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that this type of storage batteries could reach 250 GW in 2030 with the strong increase in demand for EEB (Energy Efficient Bateries). As of December 16, 2018, the mid-point price of V2O5 as reported by Metal Bulletin was $25.55 per pound, as compared to $9.00 per pound on September 29, 2017.”
