TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-V-listed Largo Resources on Friday announced that it had concluded commissioning of its vanadium processing plant at the Maracas project in Bahia, Brazil, and that vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) production would start as soon as the kiln had reached its design temperature.

The vanadium- and tungsten-focused company will start feeding vanadium concentrate through the kiln and downstream facility as soon as the kiln had reached 1 000 °C.

“Once the feed to the kiln has begun, there is a build-up of vanadium within the processing plant for a few days, with first V₂O₅ flake production starting very shortly after,” Largo senior VP and technical director of Brazil operations Les Ford said.

“We are extremely pleased with this development and remain positive about our prospects during the initial ramp-up period. We look forward to becoming the world's newest producer of vanadium in the very near-term,” president and CEO Mark Brennan added.

The transition metal vanadium, which is mainly produced as a by-product of iron-ore mining has, in recent years, seen a steady rise in demand from the steel construction industry as building regulations, especially in China, increasingly call for improved strength and lighter construction materials.

A January 2013 preliminary economic assessment for expanding the scope of the Maracas project had attached a $554-million net present value at an 8% discount to the project, with a 26.3% internal rate of return.

The project would produce about 6 376 t of V₂O₅ from the second production year, being complemented with 4 899 t/y of vanadium contained in a ferrovanadium alloy from the third year onwards. The operation would produce 11 400 t/y of V₂O₅ equivalent.

The project had a price tag of about $235-million and is expected to have a mine life of 29 years.

Largo had secured an offtake agreement with Glencore International for all of the operation's vanadium products for the first six years.

The company’s TSX-V-listed stock rose 20% on Friday to C$0.27 apiece.