Vanadium Players Hot With Investors Written by THE WEST...

Vanadium Players Hot With Investors

Written by THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
Published: 14 March 2018

Shares in listed vanadium players King River Copper and Australian Vanadium surged yesterday as the price of the commodity hit fresh 10-year highs.
Both stocks received price queries from the Australian Securities Exchange after their shares jumped 29 per cent (to 11¢) and 21 per cent (to 5.7¢) respectively.
The companies drew a blank to the so-called speeding tickets, pointing to previous announcements about metallurgical test work on their WA vanadium projects.
The strong buying came on the back of vanadium prices hitting fresh 10-year highs amid tight global supply. Vanadium is used as an additive to strengthen steel, but recent investor excitement stems from its use in vanadium redox flow batteries that store renewable energy.
China is the biggest user of vanadium for its steel and is also a pioneer in VRFBs.
The country is looking to move away from polluting coal-fired power stations and embrace renewable energy with VRFBs considered one of the leading options for storage because of their proved reliability, fast charge rates, power retention properties and long lives.
Another player, Chris Reed’s Neometals, this week announced more high-grade titanium and vanadium drill hits at its Barrambie project north of Sandstone as it evaluates direct shipping ore options to China.