Bushveld Minerals Ltd (LON:BMN)(OTCMKTS:BSHVF) has signed a joint venture agreement with redT energy PLC (LON:RED) to form a vanadium financing partnership to supply vanadium electrolyte for third party-owned vanadium redox flow batteries in projects developed by redT.
A key part of Bushveld's strategy is to encourage the growth of the market for vanadium redox flow batteries, an attractive commercial opportunity in itself, which will also help strengthen vanadium demand profile.
The partnership will take the form of a special-purpose vehicle structured to hold physical vanadium. It will supply vanadium electrolyte, an important element of vanadium redox flow batteries, to a series of projects in Europe to be deployed over an initial period of two years.
The deal builds on the smaller contract executed in 2019 in the USA with Avalon Battery Corporation.
The partnership's initial target will be to deliver approximately 15 MWh of vanadium redox flow batteries to market.
This will require approximately 80 metric tonnes of vanadium to be supplied by Bushveld.
The vanadium electrolyte will be supplied to the projects via long-term lease or rental arrangements, with financing from external funders that the Partnership are currently in discussions with.