Shares in Bushveld Minerals (LON:BMN) stormed higher after the company unveiled a maiden resource estimate for the AB zone of its Mokopane vanadium project.
The resources were estimated at 12.5mln tonnes at an in-situ grade of 0.7% vanadium pentoxide (V2O5).
The company also revealed AB concentrate grades of between 2.01% and 2.65% V2O5, with limited variability, and an average grade of 2.21% V2O5.
The AB Zone has been sub-divided into three units based on the abundance of Ti-magnetite: an upper Ti-magnetite rich zone that is on average 1.93 metres thick; a Ti-magnetite-poor parting that is on average 2.86 metres thick; and a lower unit with disseminated Ti-magnetite, which is on average 4.51 metres thick.
Estimated resources were 2.7mln tonnes for the upper nut; 3.7mln units for the parting and 6.0mln tonnes for the lower.
Bushveld said there were significantly higher vanadium pentoxide concentrate grades in the AB Zone of Mokopane than in the previously reported main magnetite layer (MML).
"The maiden mineral resource estimate and updated metallurgical results confirm our expectations that the AB Zone represents significant upside for the project,” said chief executive, Fortune Mojapelo.
“The exceptional concentrate grades, in excess of 2% V2O5, are approximately 20% higher than the MML concentrate grades on which the scoping study and the pre-feasibility study have been based. This represents a significant additional mineral resource, and moreover upside from the excellent vanadium grades that the test work shows we can recover," he added.
The company said the pre-feasibility study (PFS) is still in progress, based on the mineral resource defined solely on the MML, and hopes to complete this before the year is out.
After the PFS is completed, Bushveld Vanadium will focus on identifying routes to advance the project towards a definitive feasibility study (DFS)
Meanwhile, the application for a mining right continues to progress. An environmental impact assessment has been completed, submitted to and accepted by the Department of Mineral Resources as required by the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.
Shares in Bushveld were up 10.8% at 3.85p in lunch-time trading and are up 25% year-to-date.