Chinese Demand for Stronger Steel Makes Vanadium a Hot Commo Chinese Demand for Stronger Steel Makes Vanadium a Hot Commodity
Thursday, December 27, 2018, 7:00 AM ET
By Rhiannon Hoyle
A 2008 earthquake that devastated a mountainous part of China is prompting a scramble for a little-known metal in a once-thriving uranium-mining belt in the U.S. West and elsewhere in the world.
The deadly Sichuan quake that killed some 80,000 people a decade ago led to new rules, introduced by Beijing last month, that aim to end the use of low-strength steel in China's infrastructure and buildings. Vanadium is a metal that even in small amounts can toughen steel, and anticipation of the new Chinese rules sent vanadium prices soaring this year.
The demand boom has reinvigorated vanadium projects world-wide, including the efforts of Energy Fuels Inc. The Lakewood, Colo.-based uranium miner plans this month to start collecting discarded vanadium from ponds at its White Mesa Mill near Blanding, Utah. It is also revisiting old uranium mines shuttered during a multiyear bust for the nuclear fuel but likely to contain lots of vanadium.
In Brazil, Largo Resources Ltd. is churning out record volumes of vanadium from its Maracs Menchen mine and looks to lift production capacity there by 25% from mid-2019. Toronto-based Largo, which currently sells all its vanadium to trader Glencore PLC, is considering adding a new facility next door in order to produce even more and has three drill rigs exploring prospects at another site in Brazil.
In Australia, Atlantic Pty Ltd., owned by Indonesian billionaire Anthoni Salim, wants to restart the Windimurra mine by mid-2020, while explorers in the Outback are accelerating studies for new projects.
The global vanadium market is small, with roughly 80,000 metric tons of the metal produced each year. About 90% of that output is used, typically in tiny amounts, to toughen steel for bridges and skyscrapers.
Vanadium surged to $29 a pound last month, according to Argus Media Ltd., which assesses market prices. While the price for vanadium pentoxide in Rotterdam, a global benchmark, has since pulled back to $19.50, it remains well above where it started the year, at $8.25 a pound. Two years ago, it fetched less than $5.
Given the scale of 2018's gains, the pullback is doing little to damp miners' enthusiasm for the commodity.
The new standard for steel rebar in China -- which sets out specifications for three high-strength grades, each requiring a helping of vanadium -- took shape as buyers were facing a shortfall.
Several mines were shut in recent years amid weak prices. Once-plentiful global stockpiles "have been drawn down to nearly nothing," said Jack Bedder, director at Roskill, a London-based research and consulting firm.
Makers of rebar in China, where mills pump out more than half the world's steel, spent the summer stocking up ahead of the new regulations.
Global demand for vanadium could rise by up to 25% in coming years as Chinese steelmakers use more of the metal, Macquarie Group said. Today, mills in China typically use about half the amount of vanadium that North American producers put into their steel, it estimated.
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake was the most devastating natural disaster to hit China in decades and put the spotlight on Chinese building practices. Officials vowed to improve safety as critics alleged shoddy construction elevated the disaster's death toll and parents called for investigations into the collapse of many schools.
Still, Roskill's Mr. Bedder said traders should monitor implementation, as such rules in China have at times been "somewhat toothless."
Only a handful of vanadium mines are operating globally. Most vanadium production comes from extraction by steelmakers when using vanadium-rich iron ore, and they aren't likely to produce more of the commodity just because prices are high. Stricter environmental controls also make it difficult to ramp up output in China.
"We have to face the restrictions and realities of getting new mines," said Mark Smith, Largo's chief executive. But, he added, "The market needs new production in a big way."
About 14% of vanadium comes directly from mines, and can be found alongside more common commodities, including iron ore, uranium, coal, oil and aluminum ingredient bauxite. It is relatively abundant, with production ranging widely, from the U.S. and Australia to South Africa, Russia and Brazil; but vanadium isn't usually mined alone because prices have historically been too low to make it worthwhile.
Still, the current boom has drawn many small mining outfits. Several have bought land close to Energy Fuels' Utah mill, the only facility in the U.S. able to process mined vanadium, and they have reached out to the company's executives.
"It's hard to say whether we will have enough capacity to bring in other miners," said Curtis Moore, vice president of marketing and corporate development at Energy Fuels. "Certainly we are open to it."
The company hired 35 people at its White Mesa Mill and La Sal Complex mines to help build its vanadium business and has held talks with potential vanadium buyers, including U.S. steelmakers, Mr. Moore said.
By revisiting the ponds at its mill, Energy Fuels estimates it can produce up to 225,000 pounds monthly over roughly the next year and a half. Previously, vanadium was sometimes discarded because prices were too low.
Also, the miner is drilling again at nearby uranium mines to figure out how to target high-grade vanadium zones that were overlooked before.
Reopening old mines because of high prices, in a market that's small and typically volatile, is a trickier decision. "One day people will pay you any price for your vanadium, the next day you can't give it away," Mr. Moore said.
Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com