Vanadium hopeful Battery Mineral Resources is assessing Western Uranium’s Sage mine for its vanadium production potential
The Sage uranium deposit is believed to have vanadium grades of up to 1.5%, among the highest in the world.
Average vanadium oxide prices rose to about US$13.60/lb in the first quarter of this year, up 164% year-on-year.
Sage, which previously produced in 1990, features 94 unpatented mining claims.
A 2011 technical report put historic resource estimates of about 4.8 million pounds of vanadium at an average grade of 1.72%, and about 580,000lb of uranium at an average 0.21% – a ratio of about 8:1 vanadium to uranium. The report also disclosed ultra-high vanadium grades in the deposit at 1.67%, 2.54%, and 1.8%, respectively, for the formerly classified measured, indicated, and inferred resources.