Colorado-based uranium and vanadium mining company Western Uranium & Vanadium has announced the reopening of the Sunday Mine Complex (SMC) to produce vanadium, a worldwide shortage of which has made several offtake agreements available for ore production.
Although no anticipated start date for the reopening of the mine complex in San Miguel county has been provided, the company said on Wednesday that it had entered into discussions with a number of large offshore companies with existing facilities to recover the vanadium contained in the SMC ore.
Initially the ore will be shipped offshore, but there is a longer term plan to build facilities in the US, the mining firm noted.
A supply deficit has driven the price of vanadium from $10/t to $30/t in 2018, as demand in high-strength steel picked up and battery metal requirements accelerated.
Western has also started a programme to upgrade the resource model of the SMC, which management believes is significantly understated.
After the reopening of the mine, Western will further define the high-grade vanadium resource through the use of X-ray fluorescence technology, which will identify the most accessible highest grade vanadium resources.
The SMC consists of five individual mines. Mining occurred from the 1950s through to the mid-1980s, with Union Carbide having constructed extensive underground infrastructure during the time it operated the mines in the 1970s. Denison Mines operated the SMC between 2006 and 2009.