iron ore prices, page-6

i think the specific consumption of vanadium will actually improve - it will be more an issue of steel quality versus volume.

In china they have two main grades of steel reinforcing bar - one for the domestic market and one for export. The export bar has twice the vandium content. It's not hard to imagine any surplus V being utilised in better quality steel for chinese domestic use if the european demand falls.

The niobium uptake has been rapid, but the steel mills are far more familiar with the metallurgy of vanadium and i understand it is superior to niobium in most applications. Substitution will understandably occur when vanadium is priced ridiculously such as $US60/kg FeV, i doubt we will see those levels for a while.

The decripit plant in Russia and the on-going power and labour issues in SAfr are probably going to restrict the non-china stockpile build-up. Major new primary supply is hard to imagine, Windimurra would have to be dead at long term prices of less than $6.50/lb V2O5.


Then we have AXO, which will give away its vanadium in the iron ore it sells for free. It will continue to supply huge volumes of vanadium in a completely price inelastic manner. Competitively it will be the number one source of vanadium without even being a vanadium producer. i can see shutdown of primary vanadium production all over the place when the chinese start ripping vanadium slag out of the balla balla iron ore.