EAGLE EAST DISCOVERY SHOWS PROMISE / 3 LUNDIN MINING: Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf 1 2016-06-24 4:27:20 PM IN FOCUS TECHNOLOGY METALS Vanadium, graphite, lithium, REEs and more / 7–9 VTEM™ | ZTEM™ | Gravity | Magnetics 905 841 5004 | geotech.ca JULY 18–24, 2016 / VOL. 102 ISSUE 23 / GLOBAL MINING NEWS · SINCE 1915 / $3.99 / WWW.NORTHERNMINER.COM Centerra Sparton banks on vanadium unveils TECHNOLOGY METALS | Junior commissions 8 MW hour vanadium battery for Chinese utility US$1.1B BY TRISH SAYWELL [email protected] bid for ver the course of his 54 years Thompson in the business, Canadian geologist and engineer Lee OBarker has had many rewarding Creek moments. In the early 1970s he recognized M&A | A gold mine in and staked the Montviel carbonate- Canada would lower hosted rare earth deposit in Quebec and in the 1980s found several firm's geopolitical risk gold discoveries in Ontario and Newfoundland, including the Fenn- BY MATTHEW KEEVIL Gibb deposit near Matheson, Ont., [email protected] with colleague Denis Villeneuve, VANCOUVER the Pine Cove deposit at Baie Verte in Newfoundland with Peter Dim- enterra Gold (TSX: CG; US- mell, and the Elmtree deposit in OTC: CAGDF) has been shop- the Bathurst area with Don Hoy ping for gold assets in Canada, and George Murphy. Cand on July 5 the company found a fit Diamond exploration took up in debt-heavy Thompson Creek Met- most of his time in the 1990s. Barker als (TSX: TCM; US-OTC: TCPTF) conducted the initial diamond and its Mount Milligan copper-gold exploration work at Diavik in the mine, 145 km northwest of Prince Northwest Territories for Aber George in central British Columbia. Resources and West Viking Explo- The project team in front of the 8 MW hour vanadium flow battery at the Zhangbei renewable energy project in February, 180 The total transaction value is ration, generating the geophysical km north of Beijing, from left: chief technical officer Huang Mianyan, project coordinator Lee Barker and commercial manager pegged at US$1.1 billion, but very Charles Ge. SPARTON RESOURCES database that led to the discoveries little of it will end up in the hands of all of the kimberlite pipes found of Thompson Creek shareholders. on the Diavik property to date. (His more than 500,000 oz. gold at the “DEMAND FOR VANADIUM IS GOING TO In fact, Centerra’s big expense will original work was so successful that Luxi gold mine in southwestern be outstanding bond obligations he was the first person introduced China’s Yunnan province), then GO UP BECAUSE THESE BATTERIES ... ARE See CENTERRA / 3 and recognized by Robert Gann- to secondary uranium production A COMMERCIAL SOLUTION TO LARGE- icott during his official presentation (through which Sparton’s man- at the Diavik's opening ceremony agement team made contacts and SCALE ENERGY STORAGE.” PM40069240 in 2003.) relationships with China’s National LEE BARKER Barker left Aber Resources in Nuclear Agency), and more recently PRESIDENT AND CEO, SPARTON RESOURCES 1993 to join SouthernEra and be- to vanadium, a key industrial alloy came involved in that company’s and technology metal. kimberlite discoveries in South Over the last five years, Sparton’s projects, which Sparton says could Earlier this year, VanSpar com- Africa, Angola and the Northwest 90.4%-owned subsidiary, VanSpar, be developed as low-cost, open-pit missioned an 8-megawatt-hour Territories, before leaving in 2000 has negotiated acquisition agree- vanadium mines. vanadium flow battery used by to operate as an independent con- ments on primary vanadium de- The high-grade vanadium de- the North China State Grid Co. sultant on several diamond projects posits in China’s Jiangxi province posits are just half the equation, at the Chinese utility’s Zhangbei in Angola and elsewhere. that are hosted in black shale rocks, however. The endgame for Spar- project, 180 km north of Beijing. But his focus on gold and dia- where grades average 0.9% vana- ton, Barker says, is to become a Zhangbei is the world’s largest mond discoveries in North Amer- dium pentoxide (V2O5). vertically integrated producer of renewable energy project, Barker ica and Africa shifted continents Sparton has yet to pull the trigger vanadium redox batteries, also says, and integrates wind and solar when he joined Sparton Resources on the asset purchase agreements it known as vanadium flow batteries. power, energy storage and smart (TSXV: SRI) as president and CEO has signed with the owners of the The vanadium batteries are alterna- grid transmission technologies. and initiated the junior’s explo- deposits, but is hosting site visits tives to lithium-ion batteries and Zhangbei has been designed as ration programs in China, first for several investor groups that are used in the longer-term, grid-scale See SPARTON / 2 in gold, (the company drilled off interested in taking stakes in the storage of solar and wind energy. NOUVEAU MONDE: ADVANCES QUEBEC GRAPHITE PROJECT / 16 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 14 16_July18_Main.indd 1 2016-07-12 7:59 PM 2 JULY 18–24, 2016 / THE NORTHERN MINER WWW.NORTHERNMINER.COM Vanadium pentoxide (98.5% pure) at the Rentian processing plant in China’s Jiangxi province. SPARTON RESOURCES A driller working on the Quankeng vanadium property in Jiangxi province. SPARTON RESOURCES Sparton banks on Vanadium SPARTON From 1 that flows between tanks through a based out of Europe, another out limited, the technology possesses a slag is also used to recover vana- stack of fuel cells in which an elec- of the U.S. and two are from Asia. key advantage in its longevity that dium.) By contrast, the Quankeng an energy infrastructure project in trochemical reaction takes place and “Some of them are project venture could drive a much lower cost, based and Dong Du deposits are hosted China’s efforts to provide cleaner electricity is released. capital companies, some are private on levelized cost of storage (LCOS), in “black shales” and are actually and greener energy in time for the The electrolyte does not degrade equity firms and some are high net- over the entire lifetime.” cleaner and purer, and the vanadium 2022 Winter Olympics, which has over time and the system can be worth individuals involved in the In fact, Barker says, vanadium flow grade higher in most cases than the several competition sites near the charged and discharged simulta- energy industry. They are doing batteries “are much cheaper than overall content in the rock units massive renewable energy produc- neously, Barker says. In addition, their due diligence now.” lithium units on an LCOS basis.” hosting the magnetite-related types, tion and storage facility. it will have no problem serving the Barker is confident that the emerg- The advantage of flow batteries Barker says. Vanadium production “There has been significant social Winter Olympics in China, as it can ing vanadium flow battery business relative to Li-ion, Goldman’s report from these deposits is simpler and unrest generated by the poor air operate in temperatures from plus will accelerate demand for good continues, “is that their lifetime is uses far less energy than from the quality in urban China centres, so 55ºC to -40ºC. “You’ll never see a sources of vanadium. governed by years, not cycles,” which magnetite-hosted ones, he says. the Chinese government is really vanadium flow battery under the “Demand for vanadium is going “allows for unique flexibility when These black shales are old marine going out of its way to mitigate the hood of a Tesla or a Chevy Volt, but to go up generally because these bat- planning for load variability.” sediments that are also rich in car- problem and moving to cleaner, non you will see them in renewable en- teries are becoming more and more “While other technologies may bon, he adds, noting that the free fossil fuel-based sources of energy,” ergy installations around the world,” popular and really are a commercial need to be operated within a narrow carbon content is up to 15–20%, Barker says. “The general feeling that Barker says. “Lithium ion is fine for solution to large-scale energy stor- range of parameters, certain flow and the rocks burn. This makes China has a bad record on pollution small and mobile applications in age,” he says, estimating that up to batteries can be cycled several times them favoured in cement produc- is certainly justified, but currently things like consumer electronics and 20% of all the vanadium produced a day and at temperatures slightly tion, because when they are fed into they’re probably doing more to rectify electric vehicles. But vanadium flow as early as 2025 is going to be used above other technologies.” cement kilns the burnable carbon the situation and spending far more is undoubtedly a better way to go for in making vanadium flow batter- The Goldman study adds that the generates free energy and less oil money on renewable and clean en- large-scale electrical storage needs, ies, up from 3%. There are only 10 energy capacity of a flow battery or gas is needed to heat the kilns. ergy than most other industrialized especially in large solar and wind significant manufacturers of these depends on the size of electrolyte These rock units are referred to as countries worldwide.” energy installations like Zhangbei, batteries worldwide: three in the tanks, and could be “scaled quite “stone coal” in China. In May, the client of VanSpar’s Their use for cement rock is wide- subsidiary in China, Jiujiang Sparton spread, Barker explains, and the Vanadium Trade and Tech Co. (JJSP), “THE GENERAL FEELING THAT CHINA HAS A BAD RECORD ON waste from vanadium production received $3.2 million from North POLLUTION IS CERTAINLY JUSTIFIED, BUT CURRENTLY THEY’RE from this material can be sold to China Grid Co.