It's probably an understatement to say that green metals are all the rage on the ASX at the moment. Almost any company that mines, produces, or processes green metals has seen an uptick in investor interest over recent months.
We only need to look at lithium shares like AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: AVZ), up 260% in the past six months, to see this in action. But lithium is only one green metal. There are many more that investors are also excited about for their role in our potential future. Vanadium is one of those.
Vanadium is an element (23 on the periodic table, with the symbol 'V') that is hard and grey in colour. According to Geoscience Australia, it is a soft and ductile metal, which makes it useful in producing iron alloys like high-strength steel. But it is also increasingly being seen as a potentially key ingredient in the next generation of rechargeable batteries. Particularly those known as 'redox flow batteries'.
Industry analyst Professor Rick Velenta told a recent report from the ABC that redox flow batteries "can last for over 20 years, they don't degrade over time, and they don't catch on fire, which is a major problem for other large-scale batteries".
He said that "only about 2 per cent of vanadium produced around the world is used for redox flow batteries… but they're such appealing batteries, demand will increase".
That sounds like good news for Australia, which has the third-largest deposits of the metal in the world, behind China and Russia.
And this is presumably what has piqued many investors' interests in this green metal.
So which ASX shares are involved in vanadium production?
Is vanadium miner Multicom Resources listed on the ASX?
Well, one popular name is Multicom Resources. This company owns the Saint Elmo Project near Julia Creek in Queensland. Saint Elmo reportedly has an extensive vanadium resource. It has been branded by the federal government with 'Major Project Status' to reflect its potential as a significant national deposit of vanadium.
Unfortunately, though, Multicom Resources is not an ASX share, since it remains a private, unlisted company. So most investors won't be able to buy Multicom Resources shares, at least for now.
But the ASX does have some other names in vanadium that are available for ASX trading. One is Neometals Ltd (ASX: NMT). Neometals owns the Barrambie Titanium and Vanadium Project in Western Australia. Barrambie is still in exploration phase, but Neometals has been granted a mining permit for the site.
Neometals is also part of a joint venture with the Scandinavian company Critical Metals that is currently examining the feasibility of "constructing a recycling facility to recover and process high-grade vanadium products from vanadium-bearing steel by-product in Scandinavia".
Another name on the ASX is Horizon Minerals Ltd (ASX: HRZ). Horizon is primarily a gold miner, but also runs a joint venture with Richmond Vanadium Technology. This joint venture covers exploration of the Richmond Vanadium Project in Queensland, which the company estimates is "one of the largest undeveloped vanadium resources in the world".
So although Milticom Resources is not listed on the ASX, shares like Horizon and Neometals are.
Vanadium is still an emerging commodity. But the excitement for its potential uses is real, so this is a space definitely worth keeping an eye on.
