Ferro-Alloy Resources Ltd (LON:FAR), the vanadium producer and developer of the large Balasausqandiq vanadium deposit in Southern Kazakhstan, has announced it has made its first commercial sale of ferro-molybdenum and has completed testing of the production of ferro-vanadium.
As announced on 22 September 2021, the Company had started conversion of its calcium molybdate product into the higher value ferro-molybdenum. FAR are now pleased to announce that the first commercial contract for sale has been signed.
The Company is now recovering around 4.5 tonnes per month of ferro-molybdenum as a by-product from its recovery of vanadium from bought-in concentrates and this is expected to grow as throughput of the plant increases. The molybdenum is initially recovered as calcium molybdate which was previously sold at a discount to prevailing molybdenum prices, but this is now being converted and sold as ferro-molybdenum, avoiding the discount.
In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that testing of the production of ferro-vanadium using a similar process to ferro-molybdenum has been successfully completed, allowing the Company to choose in future whether to sell its vanadium production as vanadium pentoxide or ferro-vanadium, depending on which is the most profitable taking account of pricing and costs. Ferro-vanadium typically sells for some US$3-$4 per kilogramme more than for the same quantity of vanadium in vanadium pentoxide, roughly reflecting conversion costs, but the ability to make ferro-vanadium opens up a wider range of customers and, in particular, customers in Kazakhstan which minimise transport costs and provide other fiscal advantages.
The Company’s full range of products available for sale now consist of:
· Ammonium metavanadate (AMV)
· Vanadium pentoxide
· Ferro-vanadium
· Ferro-molybdenum
· Nickel concentrates
Nick Bridgen, Ferro-Alloy Resources CEO, commented: “These are two important steps towards maximising the value we get from our exiting operation, and further demonstrates our growing technical expertise.
“With vanadium prices at a relatively high and stable level, and with our growing production, our existing operations now fulfil their objective of providing cash flows to support our feasibility study and ongoing development of the Balasausqandiq deposit.”
