Australian Vanadium Ltd (AVL) has announced the signing of a letter of intent with a subsidiary of Chinese company HBIS Chengsteel, the world’s third largest vanadium producer.
According to the letter of intent, a binding technical services and purchase agreement for AVL’s vanadium products is expected to be negotiated and signed by Hebei Yanshan Vanadium and Titanium, a subsidiary of HBIS Chengsteel. As part of the initial agreement, Australian Vanadium Ltd will provide product samples to Yanshan Vanadium Titanium for testing, with specifications, price and volume to be determined through ongoing discussions.
Australian Vanadium Ltd is one of the highest-grade vanadium projects being advanced globally with 183,600 mt at 0.76 percent vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), with a high-grade zone of 96,700 mt at 1 percent V2O5 and an ore reserve of 18,240 mt at 1.04 percent V2O5 comprised of a proved reserve of 9,820 mt at 1.07 percent V2O5 and a probable reserve of 8,420 mt at 1.01 percent V2O5, as SteelOrbis has learned.
As SteelOrbis assumes, the interest of the Chinese company in the vanadium project is driven most probably by demand for vanadium redox batteries expected in 2020 to be high.