Yep, this morning, Australian Vanadium told investors that its shares would be spending the day in a trading halt. The purpose of this trading halt? Australian Vanadium is set to merge with another ASX vanadium share.

The company confirmed to investors this morning that Australian Vanadium has agreed to a $217 million merger with Technology Metals Australia Ltd (ASX: TMT).

This will see Australian Vanadium acquire all of Technology Metals' shares, with all shareholders to receive 12 Australian Vanadium shares for every Technology Metals share owned. According to the release, this implies an offer price of 32.4 cents per Technology Metals share. Technology Metals (which is also in a trading halt today) last traded for 29.5 cents per share on Friday.

As per the announcement today, the Technology Metals board has "unanimously recommended" the merger to shareholders and will be voting in favour of the merger in the absence of a superior offer.

The merged company will continue trading as Australian Vanadium if all goes to plan.

Australian Vanadium price on ice as merger gets underway

In addition to this news, Australian Vanadium also announced a capital raising in the form of an institutional share placement in order to raise $15 million. According to the company, this will "fund ongoing project and corporate initiatives during the transaction period".

Australian Vanadium told investors that, "the combination of AVL and TMT will create the leading Australian vanadium developer and will provide maximum flexibility to realise the full value of the asset base as a result of operational and corporate synergies expected to arise from consolidation into a single, integrated operation".

Here's some more of what Australian Vanadium CEO Graham Arvidson had to say about today's news:

The combination of Australian Vanadium and Technology Metals Australia is transformational for both
companies and marks a significant milestone in both management teams' efforts to develop their respective projects. The logical consolidation of two adjoining projects on the same orebody will unlock material synergies for both sets of shareholders.

If successful, the transaction will create the leading ASX listed vanadium developer and a world-class asset of scale located in a Tier-1 mining jurisdiction. AVL's institutional placement ensures that the combined group will be well-funded to progress integration and the go-forward development strategy…

The transaction will leverage the best of both organisations, including best in class technical work, assets and people, and will result in AVL becoming the leading force in the Australian vanadium sector.

The Australian Vanadium share price has had a tough year in 2023, losing 10% of its value year to date. Over the past five years, the Australian Vanadium share price is down 46%, as you can see below:

The Technology Metals share price has seen a similar trajectory in recent years. Technology Metals shares are down around 15.7% over the past 12 months, and have lost just over 48% over the past five years:

The post Why is the Australian Vanadium share price starting the week on ice? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

And much of their gains have been driven by demand for lithium-ion batteries. But there's another green metal in the renewable energy storage game – and it's also abundant in Australia.

Enter vanadium. The element is usually used alongside iron to produce steel.

However, another use for vanadium that might pique the interest of those invested in ASX 200 lithium shares is in battery technology. Here's the lowdown.

Is vanadium coming for your ASX 200 lithium shares?

Vanadium is an essential component of vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB).

Unlike lithium-ion batteries, these can be re-used over and over, boast a typical lifespan of more than 20 years, and have a low risk of catching fire.

They can also be a more economical energy storage solution. University of New South Wales VRFB researcher Chris Menictas was quoted by ABC News as saying:

As you start increasing the storage time, vanadium becomes cheaper. At more than three hours' storage, vanadium is cheaper than lithium-ion.

Though, VRFBs aren't a total replacement for lithium-ion batteries. As the publication notes, they're far larger, making them unsuitable for phone or car batteries, and vanadium is more expensive to produce than lithium.

Thus, they will likely be used in industrial and grid energy storage solutions – an important piece of the renewable transition puzzle.

4 ASX shares involved in vanadium production

Australia's vanadium mining sector is still in its infancy, with a handful of projects in development stages. One major deposit is the Saint Elmo Vanadium Project, located in outback Queensland. It's in the hands of unlisted operator Mulicom Resources.

Fortunately, however, there's a large handful of Australian-listed vanadium shares out there.

First up is Neometals Ltd (ASX: NMT). The $467 million company has a collaboration agreement to look into constructing a vanadium recycling facility. It also owns Western Australia's Barrambie Titanium and Vanadium project.

Another ASX vanadium stock is Technology Metals Australia Ltd (ASX: TMT). It's behind Western Australia's Murchison Technology Metals Project – one of the world's highest-grade vanadium projects.

It was recently joined on the bourse by Richmond Vanadium Technology Ltd (ASX: RVT), owner of Queensland's Richmond Vanadium Project. The project is the first critical minerals endeavour to be dubbed a 'coordinated project' by the state's government.

Finally, Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX: AVL)'s Australian Vanadium Project, located in Western Australia, has been awarded major project status by the Australian government and lead agency status by the state's government.

The post Could vanadium spell the downfall of your ASX 200 lithium shares? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Technology Metals share price is currently up 5.5% trading at 39 cents at the time of writing.

Technology Metals is focused on identifying exploration projects in Australia and overseas to discover mineral deposits. Its exploration focus is on vanadium in the mid-west region of Western Australia. It centres its current mining operations in Yarrabubba.

Technology Metals titanium findings

Technology Metals' test work on non-magnetic tails from two large samples of fresh massive magnetite composites confirmed a quality ilmenite, a byproduct containing titanium.

The excavations have resulted in 47% titanium, which is within the range of commercial feedstock for sulfate pigment manufacturers. Technology Metals intends to market the findings as an attractive blend feedstock.

It's an attractive blend feedstock for sulphate pigment producers due to its low levels of generally common deleterious elements.

Independent consultants that Technology Metals engaged to conduct quality benchmarking of its titanium findings estimate the results will achieve US$140 – $180/tonne in the medium term.

What management said

Technology Metals managing director Ian Prentice welcomed the findings, saying:

Confirmation of the ability to produce an attractive titanium by-product at Yarrabubba, as confirmed by industry leading consultants TZMI, in a period of high demand further underscores the unique opportunity we have with the range of products anticipated to be generated from Yarrabubba.

The titanium by-product produced from the tails stream indicates that this should be a very low cost and potentially very profitable product.

Technology Metals share price snapshot

The Technology Metals share price is up 5.4% over the past month and 14.7% in 2021 so far. In the last 12 months, it's increased from just seven cents per share to 39 cents, a 457% rise. 

It's also beaten the basic materials sector by more than 410%. 

The post The Technology Metals (ASX:TMT) share price has climbed 5% today. Here's why appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.