Special report: There is a growing confidence in the prospects of four vanadium projects Hardey Resources is acquiring in Queensland.

Today the explorer released an update on due diligence for the four sites — and told investors it now had “increased confidence to geologically model, estimate and report under the JORC (2012) Code”.

JORC compliance refers to the mining industry’s official code for reporting exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves, managed by the Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee.

Hardey’s geologists now believe there as many as 383 drill-holes targeting a formation under the site along a 150km strike running through four prospects — known as Spike, Cera, Petrie and Sharptooth.

That’s up from 170 reported earlier this month.

After a thorough review of the historic holes – drilled back in 2010 — the team believes it could uncover higher vanadium assay (or test results) using larger diameter drilling.

The four projects in Queensland are near Intermin Resources’ (ASX: IRC) globally significant Richmond project, which hosts an inferred resource of about 2.6 billion tonnes at 0.32 per cent vanadium pentoxide (V2O5).

Hardey has been evaluating nearby exploration undertaken by Intermin as well as Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR). Liontown’s maiden inferred resource is 83.7 million tonnes at 0.3 per cent vanadium.

“Overall, with high-grade V2O5 [vanadium pentoxide] confirmed near surface … there is potentially a solid case that open pit mining methods can be employed,” said Hardey Resources executive chairman Terence Clee.

“The geology team have done a superb job uncovering incremental data points which enhances the prospect of generating a JORC-compliant resource across the four Queensland projects and de-risks them further.

“Moving forward, the board is increasingly optimistic that Hardey Resources can develop future vanadium supply chains from Australia and Argentina judging by the encouraging results already evidenced.”

Hardey Resources will get a total of six vanadium projects through its acquisition of privately-held Vanadium Mining — four in Queensland and two in the Northern Territory.

It is also developing a vanadium mine known as “Nelly” in Argentina — where a new 1.5km long mineralised vein was recently discovered.

Strong outlook for vanadium

There is a strong outlook for vanadium at the moment China’s growing demand for steel production.

About 90 per cent of vanadium goes into steel production – particularly reinforcing bars (or “rebar”) used to make stronger concrete.

Rebar is a big focus for China because of new, stronger safety rules in the building and construction industries.

Industry watchers also predict Vanadium redox batteries — an emerging large-scale energy storage solution — will grow into a significant market. Vanadium batteries could account for 30 per cent of the global rechargeable battery sector over the next decade.

The Vanadium Mining purchase will be put to a shareholder vote at an upcoming general meeting.

If the deal goes ahead, Hardey will issue 550 million shares at 2c each to VanMin’s owners along with a 3 per cent royalty.

 

This special report is brought to you by Hardey Resources.

This advice has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should, therefore, consider the appropriateness of the advice, in light of your own objectives, financial situation or needs, before acting on the advice.

If this advice relates to the acquisition, or possible acquisition, of a particular financial product, the recipient should obtain a disclosure document, a Product Disclosure Statement or an offer document (PDS) relating to the product and consider the PDS before making any decision about whether to acquire the product.

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