-based Largo Clean Energy is preparing to produce batteries using vanadium extracted from northeastern Brazil, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday, in a bid to capture a chunk.
Where does South Africa produce vanadium?
The country's vanadium production is mainly attributed to Largo Resources, which considers to be the sole pure-play producer of the silver-gray metal. The Maracas Menchen vanadium project, which the company owns, is the highest-grade vanadium mine globally. South Africa South Africa's output of vanadium has been increasing in the last few years.
Data from the U.S. Geological Survey shows that mined production of the metal declined from 80,000 metric tons in 2017 to 71,200 megatons in 2018, before increasing slightly to 73,000 megatons in 2019. The vanadium redox flow battery is a rechargeable battery that utilizes vanadium ions to store chemical potential energy.
Why are vanadium redox batteries so popular?
Recently, countries that produce vanadium have greatly benefited from infrastructure spending in China and around the world. Global economic recovery, coupled with the growing interest in vanadium redox batteries, could further drive the demand for the metal as well as increase its price.
Does vanadium have a decline in production?
This is despite the decline in the production of vanadium in the recent past. Data from the U.S. Geological Survey shows that mined production of the metal declined from 80,000 metric tons in 2017 to 71,200 megatons in 2018, before increasing slightly to 73,000 megatons in 2019.
Although vanadium costs represent a fraction of costs for Chinese steelmakers, very low margins could prompt mills to use quenching and tempering methods (assuming limited regulatory enforcement) or to substitute with ferroniobium. Another scenario sees a period of sustained high inflation (above 5%) with a rebounding global economy.
How will a reprocessing regulation affect the production of vanadium-bearing catalysts?
The regulation has led to growth in refinery catalyst consumption, which in turn implies a growth trend in vanadium-bearing spent catalysts available for recycling. We expect output to increase in China, South Korea, and the USA. Overall, Project Blue expects existing producers to increase output at a CAGR of 2% over the period to 2032.