Dual-listed Aura Energy has identified a new high-grade vanadium zone at its Häggån project in Sweden, resulting in an overall mineral resource estimate increase.
Resource modelling defined an inferred resource of 15.1-billion pounds at 0.26% of vanadium pentoxide, at a cutoff of 0.1%. At a cutoff grade of 0.4%, the resource contains about 90-million tonnes at 0.42% V2O5, containing 840-million pounds of vanadium.
About 49-million tonnes at 0.4% V2O5 start at a depth of 20 m below the surface and extends to about 100 m below the surface.
“The discovery that a large high-grade vanadium zone exists close to surface in the Häggån deposit provides a significant boost to the economics of this battery metals project. Clearly, this newly defined high-grade zone provides an excellent location to start an openpit, which will result in the rare event of mining the best ore grades from the very start of the project,” said executive chairperson Peter Reeve.
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Häggån contains economically significant levels of vanadium, nickel, zinc, molybdenum and other battery metals, including uranium.
Aura confirmed that the recent changes to the Swedish Mineral Act, which will prevent the recovery of uranium, would not have a material impact on the project. The government has confirmed its commitment to other metals used for battery production, such as vanadium. In fact, Sweden has allocated special funding for the search for battery metals, which Aura would seek to tap into.
Source: miningweekly
