Date: Dec 5, 2018
This year’s big story as we head towards Christmas has to be vanadium. Vanadium pentoxide has been trading near a 13 year high (currently at ~$US 31/lb) on the back of new safety standards in China, that mandates a higher proportion of the metal in the production of rebar-steel used in construction. This high strength metal is increasingly used in the aviation industry and has a growing market in vanadium flow batteries that store renewable energy. As a result of skyrocketing vanadium metal prices many companies are now looking at the metal with a new focus.
Neometals Ltd. (ASX: NMT), an industrial minerals project developer, has recently announced the formal commencement of an update to their 2009 Definitive Feasibility Study for their 100% owned Barrambie Vanadium-Titanium-Magnetite project in Western Australia. The Barrambie project is one of the world’s largest and highest grade hardrock titanium-vanadium deposits. Barrambie sits on a granted mining lease with full native title agreements in place and historic approval for an open-cut mine and processing plant. It hosts a 280 million tonne resource at 9.18% titanium and 0.44% vanadium.
Neometals to demerge their Barrambie vanadium asset
On the back of surging prices for vanadium, Neometals looks to re-focus their Barrambie asset into a new company separate from their lithium business. Neometals shareholders will receive shares in the new entity via an in-specie distribution. The demerger is expected to be completed in the March 2019 quarter, subject to approvals and consents.
Neometal’s Managing Director Chris Reed said: “Barrambie has played second fiddle in recent years to our lithium endeavors, however it is to our knowledge, the most advanced, undeveloped green-fields vanadium project globally. Our extensive historical exploration and evaluation works will enable us to fast-track an updated Definitive Feasibility Study.”
