JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Diversified Aim-listed miner Bushveld Minerals, which is acquiring a vanadium mine in South Africa, is optimistic that global demand for vanadium will continue growing.

The company recently partnered with investment company Yellow Dragon to secure $5.2-million to complete the first phase of the $17-million acquisition of Evraz Group’s 78.8% interest in the Vametco mine, in Limpopo, which is held by Evraz subsidiary Strategic Minerals Corporation.

Speaking to Mining Weekly Online on Friday, CEO Fortune Mojapelo said the Vametco mine had the capacity to produce 2 700 t/y of vanadium, but that the mine’s capacity could be expanded significantly.

“Vanadium demand is driven by two things; the first one is steel. Ninety per cent of vanadium is used in steel because it strengthens it. All rebar steel, for example, has to have a certain amount of vanadium,” he stated.

He added that, by adding 0.2% vanadium to 1 t of steel, the tensile strength of the steel was improved.

Mojapelo pointed out that the World Steel Association expected steel production to grow by at least 1% a year up to 2025 and that the intensity of the use of vanadium in steel was still growing, driven by greater enforcement of regulations in places like China, which is the biggest consumer of steel globally.

He added that China had put regulations in place that would outlaw the selling of poor-quality steel, especially for use in the construction sector, in favour of stronger, higher-quality steel.

“The types of steel being used in China are grade 2, grade 3 and grade 4 rebar steel. China has decided to phase out grade 2 rebar, which doesn’t contain any vanadium, and enforce a minimum requirement for vanadium in grade 3 steel,” he said, reiterating that the use of vanadium was still growing.

“So much so that between 2008 and 2014, while steel production grew at a rate of 3.4%, vanadium consumption grew at a rate of 8%. We still see that the steel market is an important driver of vanadium demand,” he said.

Mojapelo pointed out that the second driver of vanadium demand was vanadium redox flow batteries used in energy storage applications.

The growth of energy storage was linked to the growth of renewable energy, which was an intermittent energy source.

“One needs to be able to store power from renewable sources such as solar or wind. When you are connecting to a grid, energy storage provides a buffer between the source and the grid,” he said.

He stated that, in South Africa, the sun shined brightest in offpeak periods, which was not ideal. To use power during peak periods, that energy had to be stored.

He added that energy storage allowed for flexibility in terms of the generated power from renewable sources.

“Vanadium batteries are ideally suited to utility-scale applications. They are very long lasting and can typically last as long as 20 years. Vanadium doesn’t degrade and makes up up to 40% of a vanadium battery. If we see greater uptake of these batteries, we will see a greater demand for vanadium,” he noted.