The past few years have brought renewed interest in vanadium. The battery metal, which is used mainly as an alloy in steel manufacturing, is expecting to see an uptick in demand thanks to its increased use in the energy storage sector.
The meteoric rise of the silvery-gray metal has piqued the interest of analysts and investors who see the value in a battery metal that is safer, longer-lasting and more durable than lithium.
Once considered a mere by-product of uranium mining, in recent years the market has seen a renewed focus and respect for the industrial metal with a lot of battery potential.
Here, the Investing News Network has compiled a list of the top vanadium stocks so far this year on the TSX and TSXV. All companies listed had market caps of at least C$5 million at the time of publication, and all year-to-date and share price information was obtained on July 14, 2020, from TradingView.
1. Vanadium One Iron (TSXV:VONE)
Current price: C$0.09; year-to-date gain: 63.64 percent
Vanadium One Iron is a Toronto-based exploration and development company focused on the Mount Sorcier vanadium, iron and titanium project in Roy Township, located in Quebec. The diversified metals explorer also owns a manganese project in British Columbia.
In February, the top vanadium stock released a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for Mount Sorcier, with production targeted at about 5 million tonnes of high-grade, low-impurity iron concentrate grading about 65 percent iron with 0.6 percent V2O5 per tonne of concentrate. The initial capital cost for Vanadium One’s flagship asset is estimated at C$457.5 million.
2. VanadiumCorp Resource (TSX:VRB)
Current price: C$0.07; year-to-date gain: 30 percent
VanadiumCorp Resource is an integrated technology and mining company focused on developing the supply chain for vanadium-based energy storage and emerging technologies that utilize vanadium. It is honing its efforts on the Lac Doré and Iron-T projects in Quebec.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, which has impacted supply chains and commodities around the world, this top vanadium stock has had consistent news flow since the start of 2020. In March, the company’s subsidiary, VanadiumCorp GmbH, completed its first battery order, contract and memorandum of understanding with Ecosource.
VanadiumCorp has also been releasing drill results, with the most recent assay results having intersections in excess of 60 meters true width; grades over these intervals average >0.55 percent V2O5 and >50 percent Fe2O3. The company has also kicked off a mineral resource estimate for Lac Doré.
3. First Vanadium (TSXV:FVAN)
Current price: C$0.25; year-to-date gain: 4.17 percent
The final company on this list of top vanadium stocks is Vancouver-based First Vanadium, which has the option to earn a 100 percent interest in the Carlin vanadium project, located in Elko County, 7 miles south of Carlin, Nevada. The company also owns a 100 percent interest in the West Jerome property in the copper-rich area of Central Arizona.
First Vanadium hit a company milestone in late May, when it published a PEA for Carlin. The study estimates a mine life of 11 years of mining plus five years of stockpile feed, with 1 million tons annually of process plant feed at an average grade of 0.71 percent V2O5 and average process recovery rates of 78 percent. That will result in annual average payable production of 11 million pounds of V2O5 flake.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Priscila Barrera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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