South African vanadium producer Bushveld Minerals has announced its operational results for the first half of the current year. Despite in the given period, the vanadium outputs of both company’s assets - Vametco and Vanchem - decreased, with the total vanadium volumes produced by Bushveld Minerals notably increasing in comparison to the same period in the previous year as a result of integration of Vanchem’s production facilities to Bushveld. The estimated production losses of approximately 380 mt of vanadium in the first half of the year were directly related to the Covid-19 nationwide lockdown.
Accordingly, in the first half of the current year, the total company’s vanadium production increased by 18 percent year on year to 1,649 mt. However, in the given period Vametco’s production of vanadium in the form of nitrovan and ferrovanadium (FeV) decreased by 13 percent year on year to 1,218 mt. Likewise, Vanchem’s vanadium output in the first half of the current year declined to 431 mt.
Based on Covid-19-related reasons, the company has revised its guidance for 2020 to between 3,660 mt and 3,950 mt, versus the previously planned 3,960 mt and 4,300 mt. However, even with the revision, 2020 production guidance is 25-35 percent higher than what the company produced in the previous year.
In the first half of the current year, the company has taken an advantage of robust demand and higher prices in China and increased the share of shipments to China to 18 percent compared to three percent at the same period last year. In particular, in the January-June period of the current year Vametco’s sales more than doubled year on year to 1,777 mt of vanadium, while the sales of Vanchem in the given period totaled 269 mt of vanadium.