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https://www.mysteel.net/article/5011131-0501/China-vanadium-nitride-price-at-2-year-low-on-oversupply.html

China’s vanadium nitride (VN) prices have fallen to its nearly two-year low, as supply has far exceeded the demand from the domestic steel mills, though speculative trading helped market sources said on Tuesday. Speculation by traders has helped prices recover since July, market sources shared.
As of October 28, China’s national VN price fell to Yuan 172,000/t including 13% VAT, or a new low since November 2017 after having declined since August 9 by Yuan 78,000/tonne ($11,050/t) or 31.2% over the period, after a 35% month-on-month surge over July 9-August 9,according to Mysteel’s database.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thesouthafrican.com/news/eskom-rescue-plan-how-it-works-pravin-gordhan/amp/

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thesouthafrican.com/news/eskom-cheap-electricity-cluster-strategy-explained-2019/amp/

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2019-10-29/rand-extends-decline-as-south-africa-unveils-eskom-rescue-plan

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2019/10/27/big-techs-renewable-energy-spend-is-this-greenspinning/amp/

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2019/10/28/is-eskom-turning-to-solar/
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, the holding company of South African state-owned power utility Eskom, has issued a tender for the supply of 20 three-phase 50 kW inverters and mounting structures.
The document states the devices will be used in four power plants – giving no further details of the generation facilities – and indicates interested suppliers have until December 4 to submit bids.
pv magazine believes such a venture would mark Eskom’s entry into the solar energy market and the tender arrives in the wake of the recent publication of South Africa’s new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which aims for up to 6 GW of new large scale solar by 2030 as well as up to a further 6 GW of distributed generation capacity.
The utility has previously been a thorn in the side of South African renewables. The energy company’s mounting financial travails, and its related unwillingness to finance renewables payments were responsible for delaying implementation of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program for large scale renewables by at least three years. Eskom is considering unbundling its energy monopoly as it suffers frequent blackouts, in part due to maintenance issues at its ageing coal-fired power plants.
Chris Ahlfeldt, an energy specialist at Blue Horizon Energy Consulting Services, said Eskom began load-shedding again this month due to a shortage of supply and outages at facilities including the newly built Medupi coal plant. “This means the utility is still burning expensive diesel during peak periods to keep the lights on,” he said.
Although coal is expected to remain central to the country’s electricity mix under the latest IRP, Ahlfeldt believes financing challenges associated with new coal projects may render inclusion of the fossil fuel in the strategy an academic point. The energy plan envisages the commissioning of coal plants which have already been contracted plus 1.5 GW of new coal-fired generation capacity by 2030.
“While renewable energy accounts for the majority of new capacity to be built by 2030, the plan lacks ambition in phasing-out coal faster to optimize economic, environmental and social development goals for the country,” said Ahlfeldt. The analyst added, he hoped Eskom’s financial bind would persuade it to fast-track small scale renewable energy projects awaiting licenses.
In a statement to pv magazine, Ahlfeldt said Eskom’s inverter supply tender may be related to a large scale battery storage program the utility is developing with the support of the World Bank. “It’s a carry-over requirement in a concessionary loan Eskom took from the World Bank and other funders for a CSP [concentrating solar power] project that was never built,” he said. “They’re shifting the focus from the CSP project to a distributed battery storage project which is a positive sign [that] Eskom sees the benefits [of] working with the private sector to deploy more

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/10/27/storen-technologies-new-grid-scale-flow-battery-application/

StorEn Technologies’* patented fluid dynamic Multigrids™ system eliminates one of the major technical obstacles in scaling up the stack size of flow batteries. StorEn’s Multigrids™ will enable the construction of large TITANstack™ stacks featuring a current running with thousands of amps (for grid-scale vanadium flow batteries). This innovation is a major simplification of the system’s complexity and allows for a significant cost reduction.

In a vanadium flow battery, a fluid dynamic constraint kicks in when feeding the electrolyte through stacks with a large active surface. This structure has previously limited the size of vanadium flow battery stacks, and therefore limited the power rating. For large grid-scale batteries, manufacturers were previously forced to utilize a number of smaller stacks connected as “power building blocks.” The multiplication of stacks added to the complexity, size, and cost of grid-scale flow batteries.

“StorEn’s Multigrids™ technology enables the construction of stacks with a current of thousands amps,” explains StorEn’s Chief Technology Officer, Angelo D’Anzi. “These are the largest stacks in the industry, leading to considerable simplification of the battery architecture and significant reduction in cost/kWh and cost/cycle.”

Expanding Multigrids for the Industry

StorEn is taking additional steps towards protecting Multigrids™ and its additional Intellectual Property internationally. In March 2017, StorEn filed four provisional patent applications at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In March 2018, StorEn’s patents were extended to four international PCT applications at the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Following the successful Search Reports by the WIPO confirming the novelty and inventive steps of its technology, StorEn has now entered the National Phase of the PCT process extending successfully and selectively extended their patents in the USA, European Union, South Africa, Brazil, Israel, Japan, Philippines and many other countries. Additional registrations will follow according to the national deadlines.

The first order received was from Multicom of Australia, to be installed in November 2019 at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. Multicom is also working with the government of Queensland to open a battery factory in Towwnsville QLD, licensing StorEn’s technology for distribution in Australia and South East Asia. Check out the video below to learn more about why Multicom chose to work with StorEn and its battery technology.

Analysts said that according to the ferroalloy online data and the company's annual report, the output of vanadium and titanium in Panzhihua Iron and Steel last year (calculated as vanadium pentoxide) was 22,500 tons, while the output of Xichang Steel Vanadium and Vanadium Products Branch was 17,000 tons, leaving 3 The domestic vanadium products company Hegang Chengde Branch, Chuanwei and Chengde Jianlong were 9,330 tons, 8,060 tons and 6,470 tons respectively. After the completion of the acquisition, the company's vanadium production accounted for more than 40% of the country's total output. By integrating the Group's internal vanadium resource business, the overall inclusion in the listing platform will help enhance the company's continued profitability, and the company's voice in the vanadium industry will be greatly enhanced. The leading position will be more stable. (Tian Limin)

https://m.jrj.com.cn/madapter/stock/2019/10/24210228296214.shtml#comment

hangzheng Bao China Securities Network News Panzhihua Steel Vanadium Titanium 24 evening three quarterly disclosure, the first three quarters of this year the company achieved operating income of about 10.38 billion yuan, 2.69% decrease year on year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of about 1.41 billion yuan, up The decrease of 31.13%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies after deducting non-recurring gains and losses in the first three quarters was approximately 1.402 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 31.68%.

According to the company, the main reason for the change in performance is that the market price of vanadium and titanium products has declined to a certain extent compared with the same period of last year. The market price of vanadium products has dropped significantly compared with the same period of last year. It is understood that the price of vanadium and titanium products in the third quarter has experienced a significant decline, which also led to the continued improvement in operating performance in the first half of the year, Panzhihua Iron and Steel vanadium and titanium in the third quarter of performance fluctuations, the third quarterly report shows that Panzhihua Iron and Steel vanadium and titanium third The quarterly operating income was approximately 3.121 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 19.85%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was approximately 210 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 76.57%.

Although the company's performance has fluctuated due to industry factors, as a leading domestic vanadium industry, the company has reserved a stable cornerstone for further expansion and development. According to the announcement, the net cash flow generated by Pangang's vanadium and titanium business activities in the first three quarters was about It was 1.996 billion yuan, an increase of 58.42% over the same period of the previous year. The company's net assets were 9.451 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.73%.

It is worth noting that Panzhihua Iron and Steel Vanadium and Titanium also disclosed the plan for planning a major asset restructuring on October 18. It intends to pay the cash to purchase the overall operating assets and liabilities of Pangang Group Xichang Steel and Vanadium Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Pangang Group Co., Ltd. .

The announcement shows that when the company carried out major asset restructuring in 2016, the controlling shareholder and the actual controller respectively issued the “Commitment Letter on Avoiding Horizontal Competition”. In order to fulfill the above-mentioned commitment to horizontal competition and effectively solve the problem of horizontal competition, the company intends to pay cash. Purchase the overall operating assets and liabilities of Xichang Steel Vanadium and Vanadium Products Bran

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/brief-pangang-group-vanadium-titanium-080115649.html

Oct 24 (Reuters) - Pangang Group Vanadium Titanium & Resources Co Ltd:

* SAYS Q3 NET PROFIT DOWN 76.6% Y/Y AT 210.2 MILLION YUAN ($29.75 million)

* SAYS 9-MONTH NET PROFIT DOWN 31.1% Y/Y AT 1.4 BILLION YUAN Source text in Chinese: https://bit.ly/32LSJcc Further company coverage: ($1 = 7.0660 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Hong Kong newsroom)

http://static.cninfo.com.cn/finalpage/2019-10-25/1207012601.PDF (official document in Chinese)

https://stockhead.com.au/resources/rafaella-bites-into-tasty-tungsten-hits-in-spain/

https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/AN_1571817719960630800/toronto-listed-taseko-mines-and-sydney-listed-tng-line-up-london-ipos.aspx

Also looking to join the London market is Sydney-listed TNG Ltd, which will hold an investor roadshow early in 2020 to discuss a float. No decision has yet been made over whether it would raise any funds, but TNG said it has already received support from UK and European investors.
TNG's flagship project is the Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project in the Northern Territory of Australia. Shares closed flat on Wednesday in Sydney at AUD0.080, giving a market capitalisation of AUD90.0 million, or approximately GBP42.5 million.
Chief Executive Paul Burton said: "The proposed dual listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange is another significant step in the company's development and forms an important part of the overall funding strategy for Mount Peake.
"The LSE is a leading destination for well-established resource companies and has a strong network of brokers, analysts and institutional investors with a deep knowledge of the global vanadium market and the exciting dynamics which are emerging for new global tier-1 vanadium assets such as Mount Peake."
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"Chinese **** producers provided some extra vanadium into the market this year driven by higher prices but are said to have no further capacity to add to the market."

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2019-10-22/south-african-lawmakers-approve-4-billion-bailout-for-eskom

South Africa’s National Assembly approved a law that allocates a 59 billion rand ($4 billion) bailout to the trouble state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.

The Special Appropriation Bill will see the government give Eskom 26 billion rand in the year through March and 33 billion rand the following year.

Eskom has amassed 450 billion rand in debt and isn’t generating enough cash to cover its costs. The 59 billion-rand grant, which was first announced in July, is in addition to a three-year, 69 billion-rand bailout that was approved in February.

https://kalkinemedia.com/2019/10/21/mining-group-rafaella-swings-to-a-better-position-with-key-activities-and-the-newly-acquired-santa-comba-tungsten-project/

Diversified mining group, Rafaella Resources Limited (ASX: RFR) has expanded its portfolio and ventured into tungsten. RFR, previously a junior gold, copper and cobalt exploration company, now aims to go down the tungsten path.

Tungsten is deemed as a strategic metal with unique properties. For instance – it has the highest melting point of all metals and finds application in machine tools. THERE IS A NOTICEABLE UPSIDE FOR TUNGSTEN MINERS THAT ARE MOVING INTO PRODUCTION.

In August 2019, RFR completed the transformational acquisition of Galicia Tin and Tungsten SL, the 100% owner of the Santa Comba tungsten project in Galicia, northwest Spain, and commenced drilling at the highly prospective Quarry North prospect.

http://3g.cnfol.com/sc_stock/meiribidu/20191017/27732370.shtml

Pangang Vanadium and Titanium: Planning to acquire Xichang Steel Vanadium and Vanadium Products Branch will constitute a major asset restructuring.

Pangang Vanadium and Titanium (000629) On the evening of October 17, the company intends to purchase the overall operating assets and liabilities of Xichang Steel Vanadium and Vanadium Products Branch of the controlling shareholder Pangang Group by cash payment. According to preliminary research and calculations, this transaction will constitute a major asset restructuring.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/vanadiumcorp-amp-electrochem-expand-the-intellectual-property-portfolio-into-the-european-union-849567622.html

VANCOUVER, Oct. 17, 2019 /CNW/ - VanadiumCorp Resource Inc. (TSX-V: "VRB") (the "Company") and Electrochem Technologies & Materials Inc. ("Electrochem") are pleased to announce the National Entry phase in the European Union for the jointly owned VanadiumCorp-Electrochem Processing Technology ('VEPT") with the international patent application: WO 2018/152628 – "METALLURGICAL AND CHEMICAL PROCESSES FOR RECOVERING VANADIUM AND IRON VALUES FROM VANADIFEROUS TITANOMAGNETITE AND VANADIFEROUS FEEDSTOCKS".

Select jurisdictions where the patent protection for VEPT is filed and pending are:

European Union [18757453.8]
Canada [CA 3032329]
United States [16/322,642]
Australia [AU 2018225820]
India [201917004662]
South Africa [2019/00743]
"Filing the National Phase Entry in Europe is the final and most significant milestone for VEPT essential to our developments in Europe that will integrate vanadium produced sustainably and directly into vanadium redox flow batteries to mitigate the cost and carbon footprint of energy storage." Stated Adriaan Bakker, CEO and President of VanadiumCorp.

"The National Entry Phase in Europe is a mandatory step towards commercialization of VanadiumCorp-Electrochem Processing Technology and compliments the recent validation and grant of our patented zero-carbon iron making process in the EU, successfully tested by our European customers, strengthens Electrochem's unique intellectual property position for implementing future integrated plants in that key jurisdiction." Stated Dr. Francois Cardarelli, President of Electrochem.

The jointly owned VEPT is a novel chemical process invented by Dr. Francois Cardarelli consists of digesting vanadiferous feedstocks into concentrated sulfuric acid. The technology addresses the recovery of vanadium pentoxide, vanadyl sulfate, ferrous sulfate, titanium hydrolysate, and silica from feedstocks such as vanadiferous titano-magnetite, iron ores and concentrates such as magnetite and hematite, vanadium industrial wastes such as BOF-****s, and other industrial by-products also containing vanadium.

VanadiumCorp Resource Inc. is developing a dedicated supply chain for clean energy storage with clean energy resources and clean energy technologies. The VanadiumCorp resource base includes the 100% owned Lac Doré and Iron-T Vanadium Project both located in mining friendly Quebec, Canada. VanadiumCorp's active projects are strategically located in jurisdictions like Quebec where access to low cost clean power, vanadium supply, workforce and infrastructure support the potential for a new vanadium based battery industry to lead the transition to renewable energy and modernization of the power grid.

https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/905028/ormonde-mining-s-jv-tops-up-loan-facility-at-barruecopardo-mine-905028.html

Ormonde Mining plc’s (LON:ORM) joint venture running the Barruecopardo tungsten mine has raised a further €US$10mln in debt finance from principal backer Oaktree.

The Term Loan provides Saloro with additional liquidity support as it establishes mining operations on the main orebody at Barruecopardo, Ormonde said.

Saloro can draw in tranches of at least €500,000 with interest at a rate of 18% per annum on drawn funds and a 3% pa commitment fee on undrawn amounts.

The JV has the option to replace the loan with cheaper sources of finance and discussions are underway with third-party banks.

Oaktree’s original US$100mln loan will also be accrued in full, at a rate of 15%, over new loan’s 12-month term.

This will revert to 7% cash interest and 5% payment in kind (PIK) interest at the end of this period, should certain financial covenant tests be achieved, or 7% cash interest and 7% PIK interest if tests are not achieved.

Ormonde has 30% stake in Saloro with Oaktree owning the remainder.

https://theenergyst.com/government-to-lift-planning-cap-on-big-battery-storage-projects/

Government has moved to change planning regulations that effectively capped grid-scale storage projects at 49.9MW, paving the way for bigger batteries.

Beis consulted in January on the regime but proposed keeping the 50MW threshold that categorises developments as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, meaning they must go through the national planning system and require sign off from the secretary of state. The local planning regime tends to be faster, less costly and complex.

However, the department has changed its mind after responses to the consultation said keeping the threshold would hamstring deployment and add costs as developers have been forced to artificially split developments into individual chunks: According to industry data, two thirds of large battery projects in planning are between 49-50MW.

Proposed new rules will exempt storage (except hydro) of 50MW upwards from the national regime in England and Wales.

The shift was welcomed by storage proponents.

“This is a significant and positive change from the government,” said Electricity Storage Network policy lead, Madeleine Greenhalgh.

“It will help many developers who are currently capping projects at 49.9 MW and allow larger storage projects to progress. Applying rules created for generation to storage results in distortions such as this and we are pleased to see the government acknowledge that storage should be treated differently in this case.”

https://www.miningweekly.com/article/brazil-vanadium-mine-delivers-record-production-2019-10-15

The Maracás Menchen mine in Bahia state, Brazil, has delivered a new quarterly production record of 2 952 t of vanadium pentoxide (V205), reflecting the impact of an expansion project that is now in its final stages of commissioning.

The third-quarter production is a 17% increase over that of the second quarter and a 15% increase over the third quarter of last year, reported TSX-listed Largo Resources on Tuesday.

The expansion project is in the final stages of commissioning following the startup of the new ball mill in September and Largo said that it should reach its nameplate capacity of 1 000 t of V2O5 in October.

Total year-to-date V2O5 production is 7 566 t and the company maintained its overall 2019 production guidance range of 10 000 t to 11 000 t for the year.

Largo has lowered its average cash operating guidance for the year from the range of $3.45/lb to $3.65/lb, to between $3.30/lb and $3/40/lb.

“Following two consecutive quarters of reported cash operating costs, excluding royalties, below our previously stated annual average cash cost guidance, management is very confident that its newly updated cash cost guidance for the year will be achieved in 2019,” commented president and CEO Paulo Misk.

https://www.powerengineeringint.com/2019/10/14/power-plants-named-in-chart-of-most-influential-global-projects/?topic=73089

Three ground-breaking energy plants have been named in a list of the top 50 most influential projects of the last half-century.

The list is topped by the World Wide Web, followed by Apollo 11 and the Intel 4004 processing chip, and also includes the Human Genome project, the Euro currency, Google Search and Bitcoin.

And among these life-changing innovations is the landmark energy storage project Hornsdale Power Reserve (which ranked higher than the International Space Station); Vindebay offshore windfarm (which came above the Large Hadron Supercollider and the first IVF baby); and Tengger Solar park (which rated two places above Sydney Opera House).

The list was compiled by the US-headquartered Project Management Institute (PMI), a global non-profit organization for project management professionals.

Elon Musk’s Hornsdale battery energy storage project in Australia was number 24 on the list and PMI said it “stands as a symbol of the potential of renewable energy—and how ambitious optimism, tethered to disciplined execution, can achieve the unexpected”.

Vindebay was the world’s first offshore windfarm which PMI said kick-started the global offshore wind boom, while the Tengger solar project – which spans 16 miles and supplies more than 600,000 homes – “represents a renewable energy revolution underway in China”.

PMI also separately ranks the 10 most influential renewable energy projects. Vindebay came top, followed by Tengger and Hornsdale and the other seven included a hydroelectric plant, a tidal energy project, a geothermal power station, and the KivuWatt power plant in Rwanda which operates on engines running on methane gas from the depths of Lake Kivu.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-vanadium-holding-company-llc-acquires-americas-sole-high-purity-vanadium-production-facility-from-leading-russian-steel-producer-300937590.html

- U.S. Vanadium Holding Company LLC ("US Vanadium") today announced the closing of its acquisition from a leading Russian steel conglomerate of the only facility in the Americas that produces the world's highest-purity vanadium pentoxide ("V2O5").

The facility, located in Hot Springs, Arkansas, can produce V2O5 at the very high purity levels required by demanding applications such as maleic anhydride catalyst, bismuth vanadate pigments and vanadium redox flow batteries ("VRBs").

The facility also produces a suite of downstream vanadium-based chemicals for customers in the catalyst, chemical, petrochemical, titanium, and energy storage industries. Information on U.S. Vanadium full product suite can be seen here: https://usvanadium.com/products

From 2008 to 2018, production at the Hot Springs facility under the previous owner declined from full capacity to very low levels. Over the past year, U.S. Vanadium has brought production back online through tolling contracts with the facility, and the new plant owner plans to restore the facility's production operations to its full nameplate processing capacity of approximately 12 million lbs./year of V2O5.

"We are very pleased to have concluded this acquisition and to accelerate our plans to significantly ramp up production in Hot Springs of a variety of vanadium products, including the highest-purity vanadium pentoxide made anywhere in the world," said Terry Perles, a U.S. Vanadium Director. "In addition to creating new jobs in Arkansas, the Hot Springs facility will return the U.S. to a position of global leadership in the production of this critical and strategic material."

"Vanadium is a major contributor in the growing technology metals market, and we are excited to be expanding our involvement in the sector with this purchase," said Brian Menell, Chairman and CEO of TechMet Limited. "We are very pleased to be supporting US Vanadium Holding LLC to stimulate the production of this strategic metal in the U.S. We predict significant market growth over the coming years with growing demand from large-scale grid storage. We expect to see the Hot Springs facility growing both in terms of capacity and job opportunities to meet this demand."

Major investors in U.S. Vanadium include Techmet Limited, Elysee Development Corp., The Lind Partners, and other long-time leaders in the vanadium industry.

Hot Springs to produce the purest vanadium electrolyte in the world for VRBs. VRB batteries are increasingly seen as the preferred technology for use in large-scale electrical grid energy storage, particularly as a means of supporting greater deployment of intermittent generation technologies such as solar and wind energy.