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Brazil-focused Largo Resources’ previous quarterly production record was set in Q2 2016 at 2,513 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide.
Largo Resources (TSX:LGO) produced 2,513 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide at its Maracas Menchen mine in Brazil during Q3 2017.
That’s new quarterly production record, according to a Tuesday (October 3) press release, and Largo’s share price rose over 8 percent on the news. Its previous production record was set in Q2 2016 at 2,311 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide.
“Largo anticipates that its continuing positive operational performance and low cost production will deliver record breaking results as vanadium prices continue to remain high,” said Largo President and CEO Mark A. Smith. Q3 production at Maracas Menchen was also 4.7 percent above nameplate capacity.
“We believe that Largo’s position as one of the only pure-play vanadium producers uniquely positions Largo to benefit from the current realities of the vanadium market, including the current increase in vanadium prices,” Smith added.
The average price of vanadium pentoxide in Q3 2017 was $8.74 per pound, about 249 percent higher than the $3.51 per pound average price seen in Q3 2016, Largo quotes Metal Bulletin as saying.
As of Monday (October 2), vanadium pentoxide prices in China were down 18.3 percent from a week earlier to between $9 and $9.8 per pound on production restarts in Sichuan and weakening demand ahead of the country’s Golden Week holiday.
Vanadium is primarily used as an alloy to strengthen steel and reduce its weight. It is often alloyed with iron to create ferrovanadium, which is added to steel to make it shock and corrosion resistant.
Vanadium pentoxide is used as a mordant, a material that permanently fixes dyes to fabrics and as a catalyst in chemical reactions involved in the manufacture of ceramics. It can be combined with gallium to form superconductive magnets.
Largo’s other projects include the Currais Novos tungsten tailings project in Brazil, the Campo Alegre de Lourdes iron-vanadium project in Brazil and the Northern Dancer tungsten-moly property in the Yukon.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Shaw, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.