Tando Identifies “Outstanding” Vanadium Targets

Australia-based Tando Resources (ASX:TNO) has discovered a variety of “outstanding” targets at its SPD vanadium project in South Africa. The company identified the vanadium deposits during a heliborne magnetic survey.

During the high-resolution helicopter survey, the  junior explorer delineated a host of shallow, high-grade vanadium pipes located within a 3km radius of the already established vanadium deposit.

Tando has been working to advance a low-cost direct shipping ore (DSO) operation at SPD, and believes the newly defined vanadium pipes could provide the early cash flow needed to fund the project.

“These magnetic results strongly support our view that the pipes could be sufficient to host a DSO operation, which would be very low-cost to establish and operate,” Bill Oliver, Tando’s managing director, said in the company announcement.

“They would then be able to provide an early source of cash flow while we undertake technical and economic studies on the larger SPD vanadium deposit.”

The industrial metals miner has previously mapped the pipes using surface traverses over outcropping mineralization. However, the more detailed magnetic survey shows the pipes are indeed much bigger than first thought.

According to company data, one cluster of pipes measures 600 metres (m) by 600m alone. An additional 400m by 400m cluster of pipes has been delineated, although Tando has not yet mapped or sampled that area.

Surface sampling conducted at SPD has also returned high-grade vanadium assays, which were consistently above 2 percent V2O5.

The SPD vanadium deposit that has already been defined is estimated to contain a resource of 513 million tonnes at a grade of 0.78 percent V2O5 defined under the South African code for the reporting of exploration results, mineral resources and mineral reserves.

The vanadium producers next move will be the commencement of a phase one drilling program.

“Following completion of the phase one drilling program, Tando will move straight into phase two, which will be aimed at upgrading the maiden JORC Resource to an indicated category,” noted the press release. “To achieve this goal phase two is currently designed to comprise 58 holes for 5,550m.”

The majority of the vanadium produced at SPD will be used to manufacture vanadium redox flow batteries, an energy storage system that has been touted to have the potential to revolutionize the large scale energy storage sector.

Tando shares climbed 6 percent on Thursday (August 2), closing at AU$0.175.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.