New assays from RC drilling at Surefire Resources' Victory Bore deposit in WA’s Mid West have delivered extensive vanadium mineralisation the company says could rate it amongst the country’s best.
The work follows the discovery of three parallel mineralised lodes including broad intercepts of up to 56m at 0.48 per cent vanadium oxide with Surefire looking to build on the site's already monstrous 151 million tonne resource.
Whilst the banner intercept was returned from drilling completed across what the company is referring to as its “Middle Lode”, programs at the nearby “Central Lode” included a 38m parcel of vanadium oxide mineralisation grading up to 0.42 per cent. In another eye-catching result work at the adjacent West Lode returned a 60m strike running a grade of up to 0.23 per cent vanadium whilst there also remains an untested banded iron formation, or “BIF” lode sitting roughly 100 metres west.
The company now has its hands on close to 70 per cent of the assays from the drilling programs completed at Victory Bore and the bumper results have seemingly breathed new life into Surefire’s production plans. The Perth-based outfit wrapped up a suite of infill RC and diamond drilling at its wholly owned Victory Bore vanadium deposit in August last year amidst plans to upgrade the resource’s confidence, inform its mining studies and provide samples for metallurgical tests as part of a prefeasibility study.
The campaign comprised of 62 RC holes for 5188m and two diamond drill holes for 292m.
The company says its work at the site to date indicates the deposit could offer a lucrative bulk mining opportunity.
Victory Bore holds an inferred mineral resource of 151 million tonnes at 0.44 per cent vanadium pentoxide, 25 per cent iron and 6.73 per cent titanium dioxide. In tandem with the company’s lesser Unaly Hill resource to the south-west, the assets form Surfire’s larger Victory Bore-Unaly Hill vanadium project.
Together, the deposits hold one of the largest vanadium oxide resources in WA and with an inferred mineral resource of 237 million tonnes grading 0.43 per cent vanadium pentoxide, 24.9 per cent iron and 5.9 per cent titanium dioxide represent an enormous 2.26 billion pounds of contained vanadium oxide.
Despite recent success, Surefire is confident the asset still offers plenty of scope for additional discovery given the company has only drilled about 1.4 kilometres of an 8-kilometer-long BIF magnetic anomaly.
The outlook comes amidst a rising demand for vanadium which is commonly used to manufacture redox flow batteries. The devices are used to store electricity for utility networks across commercial premises and industrial sites in addition to storing energy generated by solar and wind-powered systems.
Speaking on the rising demand Managing Director, Vladimir Nikolaenko stated: “Vanadium prices are predicted to increase in line with an increase in storage requirements with the uptake of electric vehicles to support the global push for decarbonisation.”
With a massive 151 million tonne resource already under its belt and a string of recent results suggesting the potential for further increases, Surefire appears to be well placed to take advantage of the increasing demand for vanadium which is expected to accompany the global battery revolution.
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