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Vanadium Mining In Utah

Vanadium is a particularly unique metal. It is resistant to oxidation, crosion, heat, acid, and it adds strength when combined with other metals. A small amount of vanadium added during the steel making process boosts the quality of the steel, increasing its strength and heat and corrosion resistance. Since the early 2000s there has been a technological race to find the next battery technology capable of storing mass amounts of electricity on demand to light up cities. The Vanadium battery is competing to be the worlds most reliable mass energy storage system.

History
Vanadium was discovered several times during the early 1800s. Vanadium was particularly hard for scientists to identify because it does not like to absorb neutrons This aversion to sharing neutrons makes it an extremely resistant atom, and also making it very difficult to isolate from its parent material. Finally In 1867 an English chemist was able to isolate vanadium by combining vanadium trichloride (VCl3) with hydrogen gas (H2). Nearly all the vanadium mined today is used to make Ferro Vanadium FeV. A pound of Vanadium ore is approximately 700 times the value of a pound of iron ore. The amount of vanadium added to make Ferro Vanadium can be anywhere from 1% to 80% increasing the quality but also the price as the amount of vanadium increases.

Steel Making
Since the early 1900s vanadium has been widely used in the steel making process, including in the frames of Fords Model T automobile. Adding 2.2 pounds of vanadium to 2200 pounds of steel during smelting process effectively doubles the strength of the steel, as well as making it more corrosion and heat resistant. China, the worlds largest steel producer is also the worlds leading purchaser of vanadium. China's efforts to fight smog and pollution have increased the demand for natural vanadium which significantly cuts down on the pollution emitted during the steel making process. Construction Rebar and automobile and truck frames require particularly high strength high quality corrosion resistant steel for which vanadium is required.

Utah White Mesa Mill
White mesa mill is the only operational uranium mill in the United States. It is located on highway 191 just south of Blanding, Utah. The mill started operations in the 1980s. It has a circuit for conventional uranium ore, alternate feed material, and a vanadium circuit. Many of the uranium deposits which lie near highway 191 contain the Mineral Carnotite which is a vanadium uranium ore.

Vanadium Batteries
In addition to strengthening steel, relatively new technology has demonstrated the potential for safe large scale energy storage systems though the process of the vanadium flow battery. This technology has five important advantages over lithium batteries. It can be scaled up to an infinite size, it is cheap and plentiful, is is non flammable (unlike lithium ion batteries), it can be completely drained and recharged an unlimited ammount of times, and it can simultaneously be charged while also being drained.

Utah Carnotite
Carnotite, a mineral found in the Morrison Formation in South Eastern Utah is a uranium vanadium ore mined since the early 1900s for its uranium content. Recent interest in vanadium battery technology, and China's fight to reduce smog has driven the price of vanadium up sharply, making it equal in value to uranium.

December 2018 Update Utah
The price of vanadium is hovering around $30 a pound, September 2017 it was $3 a pound. Energy fuels, the owner of Utah's white mesa uranium vanadium mill currently has four million pounds of processed vanadium on site ready for sale into the spot market. Energy has several uranium vanadium mines on stand by which were producing ore as recently as 2012. Investors are expecting the demand for vanadium to stay high well into the future.