Jan 16 2019
Tarku Resources Ltd. reports that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) with prospectors with respect to an option to obtain a 100% interest in the vanadium Lac Fabien project in Quebec, Canada.
The LOI summaries what would be mutually acceptable principal terms for a definitive option agreement that will have to be signed prior to February 28, 2019 and under which, subject to specific conditions, Tarku would issue mostly shares and incur exploration expenditures towards an option to purchase a 100% interest in the Project over four years. Tarku, now, explores its options so as to properly secure the financing of the project.
As project generator, we are engaged in exploring and discovering new resources in Quebec. By acquiring this new project, Tarku diversify and strengthen its portfolio with the intention of realizing value for all stakeholders. Our 2019 summer exploration work will tell us, but currently, the size and the continuity of the mineralization looks already impressive. It’s an easy to access location and actual known results from grab samples distributed over kilometers suggest potential for a strong viable undiscovered vanadium deposit.
Julien Davy, President and CEO, Tarku.
Lac Fabien Vanadium Project
The project, which is accessible by road, includes 35 mining titles and is situated 130 km North West of Quebec City and at just 3 km from the Lac St-Jean freight and passengers’ railroad. The Lac Fabien project primarily highlighted its potential for magmatic Fe-Ti-V-P mineralization in 2001 (0.58% V2O5, 59.31% Fe2O3; GM 60997). The vanadium-rich magnetite sub-vertical beds are hosted in layered mafic-ultramafic intrusions related with anorthosite.
Recent exploration work returned more than 25 grab samples containing > 0.25% V2O5 distributed in a 1.2 km by 300 m area. Results include 0.48% V2O5 on a grab sample and 11 m @ 0.22% V2O5 in channel samples. Initial results from Davis tube tests revealed excellent recovery of magnetite concentrate that returned values from 1.37 to 1.67% V2O5 and 55 to 65% Fe.
A recent magnetic survey done by the Quebec government in 2015 shows that the magnetic anomaly related with the vanadium mineralization stretches over 6 km in length. The mineralized area is characterized by thin to no overburden indicating a potential good stripping ratio in the expectation of an open-pit exploitation.
Tarku is planning to undertake exploration operation during summer 2019, including widespread channel sampling, rock sampling, and stripping aiming to confirm the thickness and continuity of the mineralized vanadium zones as well as the grade distribution. Work will also encompass introductory metallurgical testing to show the recovery quality of the vanadium at the Lac Fabien project.
The Vanadium
Vanadium is a strategic mineral used as a strengthening alloy for titanium and steel as well as a chemical catalyst. After a series of fatal building collapses, the Standardization Administration for the People’s Republic of China, recently introduced a new rebar standard—necessitating the use of vanadium (“Rebar” is used to provide internal structure to poured concrete).
There is a vanadium price surge as use and development in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB) for long duration energy storage point has also grown. These batteries are rapidly becoming the energy storage solution for load leveling, wind and solar, microgrids, off-grid power supplies, peak-shaving, and uninterruptible power supplies. The rally in vanadium prices is increasing with V2O5 flake recently jumping to $27.50/pound in China, from $5 per pound two years ago.
There is really no primary vanadium production in North America as Russia, China, and South Africa produce about 77% of total production every year. Secondary vanadium production exists but is processed from waste materials as petroleum residues, utility ash, spent catalysts, and vanadium-bearing pig iron slag. Tarku sees a prospect in developing superior quality and clean vanadium projects in a safe jurisdiction as Quebec Province.