Date: Sep 25, 2018
Special Report: Minerals explorer and battery maker Protean Energy has increased its vanadium resource estimate by a whopping 99 per cent, effectively doubling the June interim estimate.
Protean (ASX:POW) now has a resource of 490 million pounds of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5).
A mineral resource is generally discovered during exploration and may be sub-divided into inferred, indicated and measured categories.
Protean’s resource update comes after a phase 2 portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) assay program in the 8.3km Daejon mineralisation strike.
The Daejon deposit includes both vanadium and uranium.
The new combined resource estimate rises to 76 million tonnes (Mt) at 0.3 per cent vanadium pentoxide and 110 parts per million (ppm) of triuranium octoxide (U3O8), for a total of 490 million pounds of the former and 18 million pounds of the latter.
The Daejon project has an indicated resource of 3.6 Mt of 0.3 per cent vanadium pentoxide and 140 ppm of triuranium octoxide.
By moving resources into the indicated category, it means a company has sufficient information on geology and grade continuity to support mine planning.
Inferred resources are estimated using limited geological evidence and sampling information, which means there is not enough confidence to evaluate the project’s economic viability.
The Daejon project is targeting the South Korean domestic vanadium market, which uses 17 million pounds a year, by signing offtake supply agreements with a strategic Korean partner.
The next step is pilot plant metallurgical testwork including ore benefaction and process optimisation.
