VanadiumCorp Resource Inc (TSX-V:VRB) announced it was granted a patent by the Australian government for its methods of extracting vanadium and iron from certain types of ores and materials called vanadiferous titanomagnetite and other vanadium-rich sources.
The company said the patent is for the VanadiumCorp Electrochem Process Technology (VEPT) which was invented by electrochemist Dr. Francois Cardarelli and is now 100% owned by the company.
The patent has a 20-year term from February 2018.
"We are pleased to be granted a patent for our VEPT process in Australia, which has rich vanadium mineral resources and robust mine development activity,” VanadiumCorp CEO Paul McGuigan said in a statement.
“With Australia in our patent-protected sphere, VanadiumCorp can protect its developing know-how in extracting vanadium from primary concentrates, fly ash and the slags from electric arc furnaces."
The company noted that VEPT is now patented in the US, South Africa and Australia with patent applications pending in India, Europe and Canada. It has also filed a continuation patent in the US with broader claims.
VanadiumCorp seeks to produce a reliable stream of high-quality vanadium electrolytes for the expanding international market for long-duration vanadium flow batteries (VFB).