Energizer’s vanadium hunt at Green Giant

Energizer Resources (EGZ-V) continues to get promising results from its Green Giant vanadium project in Madagascar as market curiosity about the metal grows.

The Toronto-based company released results from X-ray fluorescence (XRF) tests done on the latest round of drill holes and says the results confirm continued vanadium mineralization in and along the main trend.

Highlights from five separate holes include: 0.70% V₂O₅ over 63 metres, 0.55% V₂O₅ over 84 metres, 0.58% V₂O₅ over 54 metres, 0.56% V₂O₅ over 69 metres and 0.76% V₂O₅ over 9 metres.

So far this year, the company drilled 6,779 metres and in total has drilled more than 19,000 metres at Green Giant.

Assays from the core are due in the coming months after which Energizer will look to beef up its current indicated resource of 21.74 million tonnes V₂O₅ and inferred resource of 4.15 million tonnes V₂O₅.

XRF readings are not certifiable or recognized in any National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource calculation and, the company admits, results do vary from assay results.

But Energizer says it has ample experience with the technology and expects a strong correlation with assays.

The company also announced that it has brought a vanadium industry expert, Terrance Perles, on board to help it discover future market opportunities.

Perles has been involved in the vanadium industry for 22 years, and has held senior management positions with Stratcor and Evraz Group’s vanadium business unit. Evraz is one of the world’s largest vertically-integrated steel, mining and vanadium businesses.

Currently, more than 90% of vanadium demand comes from the steel industry, where some experts expect demand to grow at 7% a year over the next 15 years thanks to the metal’s steel-strengthening properties. But many investors are curious about the metal because of its role in some new battery technologies.

The most significant users of vanadium in the battery industry are vanadium redox batteries (VRB), which require between one and five tonnes of V₂O₅, depending on the size of the VRB.

VRBs are large-scale energy storage systems, which are beginning to be put into use in some parts of the world.

“Now that the vanadium redox flow battery technology seems to be on the cusp of mass commercialization, it could lead to an explosive new demand for vanadium,” Perles said in a statement. “Significant supply shortages of V2O5 are possible in the coming years unless significant additional production, meeting battery application quality requirements, is brought online in the next few years.

Energizer was known as Uranium Star Corp. up until the end of last year.

In Toronto, on June 23 — the day the results were released — Energizer shares closed flat at 24¢ on 29,000 shares traded.