A Uranium Company With An Outstanding Vanadium Resource
I often write about Crosshair in terms of their near-term uranium project in Wyoming and the uranium and gold projects in Labrador and Newfoundland. Lately, however, vanadium has been making headlines which makes me think that this seems like an appropriate time to remind everyone that Crosshair not only has an expandable uranium resource in the Central Mineral Belt (CMB) of Labrador, they also have an outstanding vanadium resource. Last August, the company released the results of their updated NI 43-101 resource estimate for the CMB in Labrador which not only significantly increased the uranium resource, but also brought the total vanadium resource to 27.56 million pounds of V2O5. In fact, the vanadium resource is actually much larger.
Vanadium – making headlines
Over the past few years, vanadium has become irreplaceable in several industries, such as aerospace, aviation and construction, due to its unrivaled ability to strengthen steel. In September of last year, Discover Magazine wrote an article titled, “The Element That Could Change the World.” The article discussed a growing interest in the use of vanadium to advance battery technology. Vanadium Lithium Ion batteries are beginning to make the electric car industry a reality, but even more interesting is the possibility of storing renewable energy using the Vanadium-Redox battery.
We already know that global energy demand is growing, but at the same time so is the awareness for the need of this energy to be clean! The nuclear industry provides an obvious solution to this problem, however in some places solar and wind power can also be useful. The problem you run into with solar and wind power is that they are both unpredictable. The solution…Vanadium! “…what is needed is a battery that can store enough energy to pull an entire power station through a rough patch, can be charged and discharged over and over, and can release large amounts of electricity at a moment’s notice. Several promising battery technologies are already in early-stage commercialization, but the vanadium battery may have the edge in terms of scalability and economy,” (Discover Magazine, September 29, 2008).
An Expandable Resource
Although Crosshair’s CMB project in Labrador is considered a uranium project, the company has also discovered a significant amount of vanadium in the area.
Some drilling highlights include:
- 0.215% V2O5 over 46.85 m for Hole ML-57
- 0.605% V2O5 over 11.85 m, including 0.305% V2O5 over 7.35 m for Hole ML-163
- 0.162% V2O5 over 224.0 m, including 0.206% V2O5 over 42.5 m for Hole ML-181
After speaking with management regarding the updated vanadium resource, a total of 27.56 million pounds of vanadium, I learned that not only is the resource expandable, but as it stands now, the resource could be expanded without further drilling. Let me try and explain this based on what management told me. Because the focus of the project has been uranium, the only sections of drill core that were included in the resource estimate were those that showed significant uranium. This means the vanadium resource is based solely on what is contained within the uranium resource, but it’s actually much larger. For example Hole ML-181 averages 0.162% vanadium over 224 m but less than 20 m of the hole was actually used for the resource calculation. The balance, over 200 m, was not included in the resource estimable, but would have definitely added a significant amount to the total vanadium found in the area.
For a comparison, let’s consider Uranium Star’s vanadium project in Madagascar. Although the company has not completed an NI 43-101 vanadium resource estimate yet, they have produced some great drill results which are in fact comparable to Crosshair’s.
Drill results from Uranium Star’s 2008 drill program:
- 0.41% V2O5 over 21.3 m, including 0.51% V2O5 over 15.2 m for Hole TH-08-11
- 0.4% V2O5 over 44.2 m, including 0.77% V2O5 over 13.7 m for Hole TH-08-27
And remember, we’re comparing these values to the vanadium resource that is contained within Crosshair’s current uranium resource. I’m interested to see how the values compare once Crosshair has expanded the vanadium resource estimate to include all sections of the drill core!
Imagine a project that could be economically viable based strictly on its uranium content. Now throw in an outstanding vanadium resource and you have a truly unique project with huge potential!
Bottom Line
The bottom line is simple – yes the past year has been difficult to say the least but as things begin to turn around, you need to look for companies that have worked hard to position themselves strategically, and I believe Crosshair is one of these companies. The CMB project hosts not only 17 million lbs of U3O8 but also the potential for a huge vanadium resource, currently at 27.56 million lbs of V2O5. The company has a very prospective gold property in Newfoundland, which already has an initial 43-101 resource estimate of 89,500 contained oz of Au, expandable in all directions.
And lastly, their flagship project, Bootheel. News regarding the uranium sector has been steady and although the last few months have been a bit slow, summer is typically weak so look towards the fall when both demand and the spot price are expected to rise. With the initial NI 43-101 resource estimate on the Bootheel uranium property in Wyoming complete with enough uranium to go into production and the permitting process for the project already underway, the company is in a great position to reap the rewards of a strong fall season.






