Hope everyone is well and in a positive mood!
One to start the day. With depressed V prices in China and Europe (AM this morning flat across the categories) it is good news that US prices at $38 kgV. US is BMN main market for Nitrovan from Vametco which has the lower production costs of the two plants.
Hope that brings a few smiles. Lovely here in Cornwall by the way. Weather a bit iffy but that’s Cornwall for you.
Hi Bonxie. At first glance that seems to be an issue and I am sure anyone trying to be negative will jump at it. Perhaps they already have.
The most obvious point to raise is that those graphs emphasise steel production and use. As far as I can tell they do not take into account growing demand from VRFBs and other uses. That is becoming a serious omission. This comment comes from the same pages on BMN website:
“According to Roskill, vanadium demand from VRFBs will grow at a CAGR of approximately 56,7% through to 2030 – the longer-term demand will be even greater.” Almost 57% compounded per year. That is a very fast growth in VRFB demand for vanadium, exactly as I and others have suggested would happen.
Again from the same pages on BMN site:
“Supply and demand dynamics point to a structural net deficit.”
They point out out another assumption by Roskill, namely that “Roskill takes the assumption that all new projects announced will come into production.” That is very unlikely at present v price levels given the the high capital requirement for new projects. The ability of non China sources to raise supply is therefore likely to be significantly less than Roskill assumed.
Another limitation of those graphs is that they are out of date! Some years have passed since they were produced and some important changes have occurred, in particular the rapid acceleration in new VRFB projects in the last year or so.
Another interesting statistic from the USGS is that global vanadium production DROPPED from 105,000 mtV in 2021 to 100,000 mtV in 2022. It would seem that vanadium deficit is more likely given rising demand for VRFBs and supply constraints.
As always just my opinion. DYOR
Sorry about the delay in answering but I like to check information before posting where possible.
Uksteveg you may have omitted a bit of context about those Director sells. As I recall it some directors received some bonus / remuneration in shares not cash. That’s great but it comes with a tax liability which has to be resolved in cash not shares.
Not pretty from a shareholder perspective true but in the same circumstances I wonder how many of us would consider selling some of those shares to pay the tax. I suspect quite a lot.
That context is very important.
Mustang via VRFB-H are acquiring Garnets 50% interest in EHL for $33 million.
On that basis what is the value of BE’s 50.5% holding in VRFB-H which I believe will be converted to about 23% of MUST?
It would seem that the value of this investment has been overlooked by some. It is not insubstantial.
Also Lemur had initiated the purchase of Brits, the along strike extension of the Vametco deposit. BMN completed the purchase once Lemur had been taken over. I believe this helped secure Vametco at knock down price (no other potential purchaser could access Brits) but at the same time guaranteed Vametco LoM for decades to come.
Luck or clever planning? Well Anthony and Fortune were on BoD of Lemur by this time. Very clever strategy.
Notice Fortune’s use of ‘I’ and ‘we’, not ‘they’ or ‘BMN’.
Looking through the website I don’t see Fortune listed as a Director BUT he writes about minigrid phase 2 as “we’ll look at scaling that up substantially…”
Can’t be certain of course but it looks like Fortune will be around in some capacity particularly with regard to energy storage. Craig wisely using his experience, knowledge and contacts? Would seem very sensible allowing the new CEO to focus on his own comfort zones … mining and finance.
Just my opinion. DYOR
Mining Weekly: Is that storage of solar power in VRFBs at Vametco particularly living up to expectations?
Mojapelo: We’re building the minigrid at the moment. We hope to complete it sometime next month. I look forward to inviting you, Martin, to come and look at it when we switch it on.
I have every confidence that it is going to be a fantastic part of the energy solution for Vametco. It'll only do 10% of Vametco’s requirements, but that's only because when we started this project, there was still a gap in terms of self-generation. In a Phase 2, we'll look at scaling that up substantially, which will of course also support Bushveld’s efforts for energy independence.
Good spot pb940. Looks like it has been extensively revised and updated. If this is another step in improving PR from BMN then new CEO getting off to a good start.
Take a look at the revised website
https://www.bushveldminerals.com/
MW: We’ve been getting calls from people who are in renewable energy and they're saying the delivery time for lithium batteries is horrific. Renewable energy developers needing a lot of storage say they can't get lithium batteries and have remarked to us that, marvellously, they are going to be able to source long-endurance vanadium batteries locally from Bushveld. When will that likely come about?
Mojapelo: The whole premise of Bushveld Energy and VRFBs is that, going forward, the energy transition means that we're going to not only need a lot of stationary storage but also long-duration energy storage, and that is a space which is ideal for vanadium flow batteries, due to their longevity over 20 years. With their six, eight hours plus, they become that much more prolific and competitive. It's encouraging to see that, increasingly, people are waking up to the proposition of VRFBs. If you look at the whole electric vehicles mandate the world over, it’s quite clear that there's not enough capacity to support lithium-ion battery requirements in the electric vehicle space, let alone stationary storage space, which, again, is much more suited to long duration solutions like VRFBs. That's what we've been building Bushveld Energy towards. We've got the electrolyte plant in East London, which we are commissioning - 200 MWh worth of electrolyte is the capacity. It can be scaled up to 800 MWh. We've got the minigrid at Vametco, which showcases how you can deploy renewable energy with VRFBs in a commercial environment. Importantly, this is not a subsidised project and it has been funded with debt, with third-party capital, and demonstrates that we can do these things at much, much bigger scale. Then, of course, there’s our share in the VRFB manufacturing companies - CellCube, completes the picture, together with the rentals which we have developed and which we are deploying. If the question is can we respond, and let's look beyond just Bushveld Energy, I think VRFBs today can respond to that requirement, and we're certainly looking forward to seeing VRFBs playing a bigger role in the renewables storage space going forward.
Questioned on what he envisages for Bushveld, Coltman spoke of the need for sustainable throughput improvement at Vanchem, the Orion restructure, and, thereafter, evaluation of the next steps.
Bushveld has positioned itself for broad-based involvement through its far-reaching vertical integration model. The company’s downstream business includes the construction of an electrolyte manufacturing plant in East London, the development of a hybrid minigrid at the Vametco vanadium processing plant in Brits, and investment in VRFB manufacturing.
On the company’s vertical integration positioning, Coltman said: “For now, it makes a lot of sense. I have no reason to do anything different to it. My focus is going to be on the mining side in the interim. Fortune is going to be supporting me on the other aspects.”
Coltman will be visiting Vametco’s minigrid on Monday: “Give me a couple of weeks with my feet on the ground as the CEO and we’ll give you a lot more substance,” he said.
Bushveld owns two of only four operating primary vanadium plants in the world and an energy platform that is seen to have sufficient critical mass.
“It's certainly been an interesting journey,” Mojapelo said of Bushveld Minerals, which started as an exploration company with an asset in Mokopane and a tin licence, from which it spun out AfriTin, which is now Andrada Mining, focused on tin, tantalum and lithium.
Six years ago, Bushveld went through its own transformation through its entry into vanadium and the acquisition of Vametco and Vanchem, which turned it into a producer of a broad range of vanadium products.
Simultaneously, it has played a major part in developing vanadium’s role in long-endurance energy storage through Bushveld Energy.
The focus going forward will be on extracting the best out of these assets. On the upstream assets, it will be about squeezing as cheaply as possible every single kilogram of vanadium out of its assets and ensuring that the balance sheet is less debt-heavy.
Bushveld has been built on the back of existing cash flows and debt, resulting in the balance sheet having some near-term maturities that need to be addressed.
On the upstream, two solid assets should be profitable through the cycle, and on the downstream, the energy business appears to have sufficient critical mass to develop as a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) energy storage platform.
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The outgoing and incoming CEOs of Bushveld Minerals this week locked arms to enable the London Aim-quoted vanadium mining, processing and manufacturing company to advance optimally.
In a joint online interview, outgoing CEO Fortune Mojapelo highlighted his commitment to supporting the company’s value-adding energy space and incoming CEO Craig Coltman spoke of tackling financial restructuring, increased liquidity, and balance sheet deleveraging when he officially starts on July 1 and Mojapelo steps down after 11 years of impressive company development.
Mojapelo pledged to continue to support the carve-out of Bushveld’s energy business strategy and Coltman spoke of Bushveld’s operations being the full focus of his attention next week – ahead of his official commencement.
“I'm very keen to put my safety boots on, get to the operations and understand the size of the opportunity,” Coltman told Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)
For those that have not seen the video interview and report with Craig and Fortune ( in case there are some that still don’t understand Fortune’s ongoing value to and role within BMN. The video is a must watch. Link is within the article.
Mining weekly 23 June CEOs article
https://www.miningweekly.com/article/outgoing-and-incoming-ceos-jointly-highlight-bushveld-minerals-2023-06-23
“ Sumitomo says that its 2MW/8MWh vanadium redox flow battery achieved a 99% operating rate at San Diego Gas & Electric's (SDG&E) facility in California. The battery is expected to retain a capacity rate of 90% or more for 20 years in the electricity market.Sumitomo Electric, a unit of Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corp., has unveiled the results of tests on a vanadium redox flow battery system it deployed in 2017 at a facility owned by US utility SDG&E in Bonita, near San Diego, California. Sumitomo said that external experts collected data from the 2MW/8MWh Redox Flow Battery Demonstration Project ...”
https://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2023-07/59532326-sumitomo-reveals-testing-results-of-redox-flow-battery-project-in-california-451.htm
Trevor just had a glance at your posts while you were filtered. Makes interesting reading. Accusations of filter blinkers, misleading, I shouldn’t be posting here etc etc and not just at me.
You will need to up the standard of comment as I no longer tolerate that behaviour. I also notice that you respond to lots of positive comments with not just facts but also negative opinions and interpretations. You certainly do not simply “just add known facts to the equation”. And you are certainly entitled to do that but please don’t dress it up to be more than it is.
I look forward to continued respectful debate with you but no more today as I am on holiday.
I am posting this link again because I believe everyone should read the article and click on the video link contained within to watch the interview with both Craig and Fortune.
The opening video section with FM summarises the progress made by BMN to date. Some of you may notice it confirms what I have posted here many times.
Then the Video concentrates on the future.
A must read / view for everyone in my opinion. Don’t just believe what you read on bb. Listen to the CEOs and make up your own minds.
https://www.miningweekly.com/article/outgoing-and-incoming-ceos-jointly-highlight-bushveld-minerals-2023-06-23
Trevor “The reason I post negative facts is to give potential investors a fuller picture.” All well and good but that cuts both ways.
Given that this bb has been increasingly subjected to the relentless negativity of a relatively small group of people (and some not even invested) I could equally write “The reason I post positive facts is to give potential investors a fuller picture.”
Much negativity takes advantage of the current share price. There are those prospective investors that are more forward looking and want to know what activities the company is involved in and what are its plans. Only then can they make their minds up about the investment case for BMN. That is why I focus on the significant operational progress being made by BMN and I will continue to provide that information as long as I believe it to be true.
It is also why I so frequently make it clear to anyone reading that it is just my opinion and I advise them to do their own research DYOR. On the other hand many of those ridiculing positivity do it in such a manner as to imply fact and never clearly state it is just their opinion or advise people to DYOR. As far as moral high ground is concerned I am very happy with where I sit.
In defence of Chris there have been numerous threads on V price. That was not his focus. The weak rand is a very significant cost factor. So much so that it appears in Q Updates and is sometimes commented on. Your criticism of what he didn’t include is not really valid unless every post you make includes all aspects and opinions, which as you are human like the rest of us they don’t!
As always just my opinion. DYOR.