Energizer Confirms Up to 82% Vanadium Extraction; Green Giant Deposit Will Play Key Role in New Battery Power and Storage Market
Energizer Resources Inc. (formerly Uranium Star Corp.) (TSX.V: EGZ) (the Company) is pleased to announce final test results from its recent metallurgical program conducted on composite samples from its Green Giant vanadium property in Madagascar. Batch pressure leach tests completed at SGS Minerals Services (Lakefield), consisting of an oxidizing pre-roast followed by an alkaline pressure leach, extracted up to 82% vanadium into a leach solution low in deleterious elements and suitable for upgrading by solvent extraction.
Several opportunities for further improvement in the extraction process have been identified, including the recycling of leach solution to increase vanadium tenor, reduction of soda ash consumption and optimization of pre-roast and pressure leach conditions (temperature and time). Future test programs will examine these opportunities to further optimize the process flow sheet.
2010 Metallurgy and Mineralogy Program Completed
The 2010 metallurgical program was designed to compare the efficiency of alternate strategies for extraction of vanadium, including alkali salt roasting, acid leaching (atmospheric and pressure) and alkaline leaching (atmospheric and pressure). Mineralogical characterization of the composite samples and a pre-concentration test program which examined the viability of upgrading by flotation, gravity concentration and screening were also conducted.
The 2010 metallurgical test composites were compiled using drill core intervals selected at various depths from 9 drill holes spanning the Manga zone on the Green Giant property and closely match current estimates of average resource grade. Mineralogical characterization of the composite identified vanadium in various sulphide, silicate and oxide minerals.
Pre-roasting + Alkaline Pressure Leaching = up to 82% Vanadium Extraction
Prior to alkaline (soda ash) pressure leaching, samples were ground to 80% passing 105um and roasted at various temperatures (900-1100?C) for 3 hrs. Pressure leach tests examined various soda ash solution strengths and addition rates plus pressure leach temperature and duration. The pre-roasting of the representative samples was shown to greatly improve the vanadium extraction by soda ash leaching.
Julie Lee Harrs, President and COO of Energizer, said, “This test program has confirmed an effective leach process that achieves high vanadium extraction, while at the same time, producing clean leach solutions very low in problematic contaminants. We have now completed a critical step as we move forward with the development of our Green Giant vanadium project.”
Green Giant Deposit To Provide High Purity V2O5 to Battery Market
The Green Giant vanadium deposit is a sedimentary-hosted deposit, which is unique among the world’s known vanadium deposits. As a result, the Green Giant deposit will be able to produce a high-purity vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), which is required in battery power and in battery storage for both mobile (automotive) applications and stationary (large-scale) applications.
Vanadium Demand for Steel Growing at 7%
In addition to its ability to produce high-purity V2O5, the Green Giant project can also be easily adapted to supply another form of vanadium to the steel market, called ferrovanadium, where vanadium demand is growing at 7% year-over-year and is well-established as a strengthening agent for steel.
2010 New Developments in Battery Power and Storage
Lithium-Vanadium Polymer Battery Sets Electric Vehicle Distance Record with a 6-Minute Recharge
DBE Energy, in partnership with German utility Lekker Energie, equipped an Audi A2 electric vehicle with its new lithium-vanadium metal polymer battery and set a long distance record of 603 kilometres (375 miles) travelled on a single charge. The battery’s basic electro-chemistry consists of a metallic lithium anode and a vanadium oxide cathode. DBE Energy claims the battery has a 97% efficiency and can be charged at virtually any electrical socket. Plugged into a high-voltage direct-current source, the battery can be fully charged within 6 minutes. More details can be found at www.benzev.co.nz.
Vanadium Redox Battery Manufacturer, Prudent Energy, Named a Top Cleantech Company
Prudent Energy, the manufacturer of a vanadium redox battery energy storage system called the VRB-ESSTM, was recently named one of the most promising private clean technology companies poised to make a significant market impact in the next five to ten years by the 2010 Global Cleantech 100. Prudent Energy, a private company based in Beijing, China with offices in Washington, D.C. U.S.A., was selected by a committee that included well-respected organizations in cleantech innovation from around the world, including BASF, GE, Honeywell, IBM, Proctor & Gamble, Siemens and Veolia, as well as venture capital companies.
This recognition of a vanadium-based storage system as a leading storage solution signals the movement of vanadium-based technologies into the mainstream market of Green Power.
Prudent Energy’s Vanadium Redox Battery Electrolyte Operates at Room Temperature and Never Wears Out
Prudent Energy has just announced (in Prudent’s press release dated November 9, 2010) they have installed over 20 vanadium redox battery systems around the world in Kenya, Hungary, Turkey, Italy, USA and China. Prudent Energy describes its VRB Energy Storage System as a large capacity, long life, advanced vanadium-based energy storage system with high performance and low operating costs. The company further claims that field results over the last three years in China and the USA has shown that it performs way in excess of any other technology currently in the field, and given the fact that their vanadium redox battery’s electrolyte operates at room temperature and never wears out, the total cost of ownership is undoubtedly the lowest for any energy storage system.
Prudent Energy’s latest press releases containing more details about their vanadium-based technology can be viewed on their website at www.pdenergy.com
Gildemeister/Cellstrom’s Version of Vanadium Redox Battery called the CellCubeTM
Cellstrom GmbH, another vanadium redox battery manufacturer, based in Austria, was acquired in 2010 by a subsidiary of a German-based conglomerate, Gildemeister GmbH. Cellstrom has successfully been selling vanadium redox batteries since 2008 throughout Europe and most-recently into India, where they have been installed as battery-back up systems for factories who operate in regions hit frequently by power outages. Details and images of Cellstrom’s Cellcube VRB can be viewed at www.cellstrom.com
Vanadium Redox Batteries Require Significant Amounts of High-Purity V2O5
VRBs require significant amounts of high purity V2O5. Cellstrom’s CellCube FB10/100 is a 10 kilowatt/100 kilowatt hour VRB designed for uninterrupted power supply for households and factories and require approximately 1 tonne of V2O5 each. In 2011, Cellstrom plans to launch the Cellcube 200/400, a 200 kilowatt/400 kilowatt hour VRB designed for solar and wind farms and requires 5 tonnes of V2O5 per battery. These batteries can be easily scaled up in size to reach megawatt capacities, suitable for power-grid applications.
Today, high-purity V2O5 is not readily available and the substantial amounts of high purity V2O5 required for the production of these vanadium redox batteries cannot be met by the current supply of V2O5. New vanadium projects, such as the Green Giant project will need to come online in order to meet this new demand.
With the capability to provide a high-purity V2O5 product, Energizer’s Green Giant project is uniquely positioned to meet this new demand for vanadium-based battery power and storage. The Green Giant project is being positioned to provide the sureness of price and supply of vanadium that companies such as Prudent Energy and Cellstrom require.
About the Green Giant Vanadium Project
The Green Giant vanadium project, located in Madagascar, is 100% owned by Energizer. The Company previously reported a National Instrument 43-101 compliant indicated resource estimate of 21.74 million tonnes of V2O5 at an average grade of 0.759% and an inferred resource estimate of 4.15 million tonnes of V2O5 at a grade of 0.655%. Assay results from the drilling program completed earlier this year are expected to increase the resource estimate by an additional 25 to 30 million tonnes, to make the Green Giant vanadium project one of the largest vanadium deposits in the world.
An updated National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate is expected within the week.
About Vanadium
Vanadium is well-established as a strategic metal that strengthens and hardens alloys like steel and is positioned to play a significant role in emerging battery technologies such as batteries for electric cars and for large-scale energy storage. While there are some opportunities for substitution in steel production, the same is not true for other markets, including the emerging energy (battery) storage markets, the military and particularly in the aerospace industry, where vanadium is irreplaceable.
Qualified Person
Andy Holloway, P.Eng., Principal Process Engineer of AGP Mining Consultants Inc. is the qualified person responsible for the metallurgical and mineralogical information contained in this press release.
About Energizer Resources
Energizer Resources Inc. is amineral exploration and development company based in Toronto, Canada. The Company’s common shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol EGZ, on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board under the symbol ENZR, and on the Frankfurt Exchange under the symbol YE5.
For more information please visit our website at www.energizerresources.com
Or contact:
Brent Nykoliation
Vice President of Business Development
Toll Free: 800.818.5442 or 416.364.4911
Email: bnykoliation@energizerresources.com
or Julie Lee Harrs, President and COO