London South East | The UK's favourite investor portal.

https://www.steelorbis.com/steel-news/latest-news/glencores-vanadium-output-in-south-africa-down-18-percent-in-q1-1144865.htm

In the first quarter this year, international commodities producer and trader Glencore saw its vanadium pentoxide production in South Africa decrease by 18 percent year on year to 1,905 mt, mainly due to planned maintenance in February. Additionally, production was affected by idling of operations in accordance with South Africa’s lockdown which started on March 26.

Glencore’s offtake agreement with Largo Resources, according to which Glencore was responsible for sales and distribution of vanadium produced by Largo Resource’s Maracas Menchen Mine in Brazil during the last five years, expired on April 30 this year.

https://www.miningreview.com/features-analysis/steelpoortdrift-vanadium/

The mineral resource for the Steelpoortdrift vanadium project in South Africa continues to compare highly favourably to other vanadium deposits globally. This is according to ASX-listed Vanadium Resources who recently announced an updated mineral resource for the project.

South Africa – According to Vanadium Resources, Steelpoortdrift is the largest global undeveloped mineral resource, as well as the largest high grade resource. The new mineral resource includes the upgrade of a significant proportion to measured and indicated categories as a result of the company’s 2019 infill drilling and the resultant improved geological model for the deposit.

The resource continues to include a substantial high grade, near surface component which has been newly estimated at 188 million tonnes at an in situ grade of 1.23% V2O5, a 175% increase from the April 2019 estimate. Of this high grade resource measured and indicated material comprises 59%, being 110 million tonnes at an in situ grade of 1.23% V2O5.

Longer life of mine anticipated

The size of the mineral resource is anticipated to result in a long life of mine for the project, which will be confirmed once the mining studies currently underway have been completed.

A sizeable portion of this high grade resource – 68 Mt at 1.37% – V2O5 is hosted in a discrete, massive magnetite unit at the base of the lower magnetite zone. The majority of this high grade resource is anticipated to be able to be mined by open pit methods given that 127 million tonnes at an in situ grade of 1.20% V2O5 occurs within 100 m of surface. Pit optimisations and open pit schedules are being designed currently to confirm this and for input into the current Scoping Study into downstream production of V2O5 from the Steelpoortdrift vanadium project.

Significant global resource

Measured and indicated material now makes up 57% of the global mineral resource, corresponding to 376 million tonnes at an in situ grade of 0.78% V2O5 within the global mineral resource of 662 million tonnes at an in situ grade of 0.77% V2O5.

Mineralisation is hosted in massive, vanadium bearing, titanomagnetite layers easily mappable within the project area and along strike within the well-studied Bushveld Complex. Vanadium mineralisation in the Bushveld Complex is amongst the highest grade mineralisation found globally meaning that the Steelpoortdrift Vanadium Project continues to compare favourably to other global vanadium projects.

Vanadium Resources is currently progressing its Scoping Study into downstream V2O5 production. Due to restrictions on industry currently in place in South Africa the progress of metallurgical testwork for use in the Scoping Study has been slowed and as a result the Scoping Study is now expected to be completed during Q3 2020.

https://www.mining-journal.com/covid-19/news/1384299/underestimate-chinas-recovery-at-your-peril-says-bmo

Commodities analyst Colin Hamilton said China was heading into its Labour Day holiday on the back of some strong recent data points in the metals sector.

"There is uniform agreement that China is on a recovery path even with the external shock from the global COVID-19 lockdown, but there is growing evidence that, on the back of old school fiscal measures, the metals intensity of this recovery is strong," he said.

While China alone could probably not offset the drop in global demand of the past three months, it did lead the recovery in each of the 2009, 2013 and 2016 economic pull-backs, when China's metal demand during the recovery cycles was much stronger than expected.

"In metals you underestimate China at your peril," said Hamilton.

Indications China is on a recovery trajectory include a rising copper premium and open import arbitrage, rapidly falling inventories across commodities, property sales and electricity consumption reverting to year-on-year growth, and evidence that local governments were putting money to work in terms of infrastructure projects.

"Moreover, we see signs of increased volumes of commodity material heading to China," Hamilton said.

BMO sees China resorting to tried and tested levers to reinvigorate the economy. Investment in fixed asset infrastructure is expected to rise sharply over the coming months towards a 20% year-on-year gain, after crossing the negative trough in the March quarter, while special bond issues over between January through April exceeded that of 2019.

More than 4,300 major projects started across China in April, with the total investment amount expected to top US$410.7 billion, Mysteel data showed.

Hamilton said the inventory draws had come earlier and faster than expected. "There was a large increase in inventory in China over Q1 amid the lockdown period. And while in many cases inventory is still elevated, in steel and cement we have seen aggressive draws over April, implying construction has recovered strongly as migrant workers returned," he said.

New data from Chinese consultancies shows rebar consumption over the past two weeks was the highest ever seen. Meanwhile, aluminium inventory is now back below levels seen at end of April last year and the Shanghai Futures Exchange copper inventory is now back to levels into Chinese New Year.

The latest survey carried out by SMM of China copper wire and cable fabricators showed a massive surge in operating rates over the past month.

"From a multi-year low in February of 34.5%, operating rates are now over 100% of nameplate capacity for the first time. This comes amid a surge of orders from the state grid, which budget has been markedly increased this year," Hamilton said.

Thus, while China is seeking to get the economy back on track, there is a rising risk markets are underestimating Chinese demand once more,"

https://korii.slate.fr/tech/electricite-stockage-renouvelable-solaire-avenir-batteries-vanadium

In California, a third of the electricity produced is from renewable energy. This state of the American west coast, particularly sunny throughout the year , has been engaged for some time in solar energy.

But California is sometimes a victim of its success, its electrical network no longer being able to store the energy captured from solar panels . In March 2017, after several cloudless days, the state even had to pay its neighbor Arizona to siphon off the surplus.

What is holding back California, like other parts of the world , in its renewable energy efforts is the issue of storage. To date, unable to store electricity long enough and in large quantities, we compensate, especially at night, with fossil fuels.

To solve this problem, scientists have been working on an innovative model of batteries, capable of conserving a lot of energy for an extended period of time, says Wired . They use vanadium , a metal considered to be rare and which today is mainly used as an additive in the production of steel.

The solution is not without flaws. The main thing is big: if you want these batteries to be able to store and distribute a lot of energy, they must be huge.

Each of them is made up of eight tanks of more than 35,000 liters of electrolytic solution and, to avoid leaks, these devices must be placed in concrete pits ready to support thousands of liters.

Immortal batteries
Beyond this difficulty of space, these storage units could well revolutionize the solar energy sector, and thus participate in the reduction of CO 2 emissions .

Thought differently from the classic lithium-ion batteries, which are found among others in smartphones, cars and electric scooters , they have more electrolytes and therefore have greater capacities.

They are also chemically very stable and cannot ignite in the event of overheating, unlike lithium-ion batteries . Better still, vanadium batteries have theoretically infinite lifetimes. Some of their parts may require replacements, but the electrolytic solution never degrades.

It remains to be seen how this new technology will influence the renewable energy sector in the coming years. One thing is certain, the price of vanadium, a crucial material in the steel industry , will be closely monitored. Prices could ignite.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/04/29/a-redox-flow-battery-for-grid-scale-solar-plus-storage/

With London-based private company redT energy and transatlantic peer Avalon Battery Corp last month announcing a £57.7 million merger ($71.6 million) to form vanadium redox flow battery manufacturer Invinity Energy Systems, Matt Harper, chief commercial officer of the new entity, has spoken to pv magazine about the VS3-022 Battery Unit Invinity is offering for grid scale solar-plus-storage projects.

The Invinity representative said the company, formed through a reverse takeover by the U.K. company of its listed counterpart, has more than 40 operating flow battery storage projects. “The majority of our fleet is in service alongside megawatt-scale PV projects,” said Harper. “This includes a 1 MWh project in Iowa, USA, which is supporting a 1 MW behind-the-meter PV array, and a 2 MWh energy storage system in Qinghai province, China, that is installed as part of a 1.6 GW solar park.”

With Invinity targeting the utility scale market, its typical customer wants at least 1 MW of solar-plus-storage capacity, according to Harper.

The VS3-022 battery has a reported storage capacity of 220 kWh and continuous maximum DC power of 76 kW. Annual degradation of storage capacity is indicated at less than 0.5% and energy efficiency annual degradation is less than 0.1%, according to the manufacturer. The 6.058 x 2.438 x 2.4m battery has an ambient operating temperature range of –5 to 45 degrees Celsius and a lifetime of 25 years and 20,000 cycles, according to Invinity, although Harper claimed the product does not degrade at all with use.

Industry analysts estimate fully installed lithium-ion prices at around $450/kWh for C&I [commercial and industrial] projects and our vanadium redox flow batteries are the same price or cheaper on an upfront cost basis,” said Harper, who said Invinity products offer a lower levelized cost of storage than lithium-ion alternatives.

“In applications where the batteries are used daily, we’re around 30% below lithium today, on a levelized basis, with a clear path to 60% below lithium within two to three years,” added the chief commercial officer.

The flow batteries, said Harper, are ideally suited to heavy cycling applications and those requiring long duration charging and discharging for more than three hours, for example when coupled with intermittent renewables or to provide grid services. “They are well suited for use alongside utility scale solar PV plants and in commercial and industrial applications, as for example in data centers, water treatment sites, distribution centers and recycling facilities – especially when coupled with solar as they can provide significant energy savings, access to new revenue streams and [can] help to meet carbon reduction targets more quickly.

Latest Share Chat

Member Info for SloppyGuiseppe

Followers

Following

Posts (Last 30 Days)

Posts (All Time)

Last Post

Member Since

Share Chat Post Distribution (Last 30 Days)

Activity Log (Last 30 Days)