VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Vanadium producer Largo Resources has set a new monthly production record at its flagship Maracás Menchen vanadium mine, in Brazil’s Bahia state, after the plant performing 12.9% above its nameplate capacity.
Toronto-based Largo advised that the performance improvement is owing to the operating team's continued efforts to enhance efficiencies and improve output.
December output totalled 903 t of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), surpassing the previous monthly record by 15 t when compared with the previous monthly record of 888 t set in August.
Largo has also achieved a new quarterly production record at its Maracás Menchen operation for the fourth quarter, producing 2 539 t of V2O5. This was 26 t higher than the previous production record of 2 513 t, set in the prior period. During the fourth quarter, the plant operated 5.8% above nameplate capacity.
Meanwhile, the vanadium price continued to climb to new heights, trending between $9.60/lb and $9.90/lb during the week ended December 29. A technical report issued by Largo in October was based on a long-term price assumption of $6.34/lb for the life of the mine, except for the years 2018 and 2019, where V2O5 price of $9/lb was used.
Should the vanadium price continue its upward trend, it creates room for increased returns for shareholders.