LONDON (Alliance News) - Bushveld Minerals Ltd on Monday said it has established a new business focused on "developing and promoting" the role of vanadium in the growing global energy storage market through application in vanadium redox flow batteries.
The company will own 84% of the new Bushveld Energy Ltd subsidiary, whose designated chief executive is Mikhail Nikomarov, a former consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Bushveld holds a high-grade vanadium resource base through its Mokopane vanadium project in South Africa, and acquired the Brits vanadium project late last year.
Fortune Mojapelo, chief executive of Bushveld Minerals, said the company is as excited about the subsidiary's prospects as an energy-storage platform as about its potential impact on the vanadium market.
"Smart partnerships in a large-market opportunity mean we do not have to develop all the competencies and capacity required across the entire value chain. In addition to broadening the capital sourcing opportunities for the group beyond the resource-biased capital pools Bushveld Minerals has hitherto relied on, Bushveld Energy presents arguably the deepest vertical integration to resonate with the beneficiation and local content manufacturing aspirations of the South African government," Mojapelo said.
"Furthermore, it offers a capital-light pathway to cash flows alongside the mining and brownfield processing platforms the company is developing," Mojapelo added.
Bushveld Minerals issued a corporate update in the wake of the launch of Bushveld Energy, the acquisition of Lemur Resources in 2015 to give it ownership of the Imaloto coal project in Madagascar, and the consolidation of operations at its Johannesburg offices.
The group said its strategy is focused on continuing "multi-faceted advancement" of the Bushveld vanadium platform, integrating Lemur, and developing Greenhills Resources' tin projects.
Meanwhile, the company has re-appointed Anthony Viljoen as an executive director, marking his return to the role from Lemur, where he was chief executive.
Bushveld said Viljoen "will be responsible for presiding over and delivering on the strategic objectives of Greenhills and Lemur".
Shares in Bushveld were up 12% at 3.09 pence on Monday morning.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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Bushveld Minerals (BMN)