Drilling operations at the Victory Metals Iron Point Vanadium Project near Winnemucca, Nevada. Source: Victory Metals Inc.
Victory Metals Inc. [VMX-TSXV] said Thursday February 28 that it is pleased with results of a maiden drilling program at its Iron Point Vanadium Project near Winnemucca, Nevada.
The company has released assays from the first eight reverse circulation holes that are the initial part of a planned program comprised of 69 RC holes and four diamond drill holes.
Highlights included 44 metres, grading 0.48% V2O5 in hole VM-02 and 27 metres, grading 0.56% V2O5 in drill hole VM-07.
Victory Metals shares were unchanged at 70 cents on Thursday, having recently jumped from 60 cents on February 14, 2019. The 52-week range is 37.5 cents and 75 cents.
“The first RC holes from our maiden drill program at Iron Point were chosen to confirm the vanadium mineralization and grades reported in historical holes drilled by Newmont Mining Corp. [NEM-NYSE] in 1966 and Aur Resources between 1996 and 1997,” said Victory CEO Collin Kettell.
Newmont and Aur Resources were both drilling for gold, but intersected significant vanadium intervals at shallow depths.
“The significance of Victory’s first eight holes cannot be understated,” Kettell said. “We have not only confirmed the widespread nature of vanadium mineralization along and across strike, we have also extended vanadium mineralization to a depth of 175 metres [575 feet] with the discovery of the New High Grade Zone.”
Kettell went on to say that grades obtained by Aur Resources underrepresented vanadium values as their holes did not fully recover higher-grade mineralization hosted in fractured zones. Victory’s drilling with a centre return hammer returned higher vanadium values over greater intercept lengths, he said.
“Many of the historical holes were limited to a depth of roughly 100 metres. By drilling deeper, we have now discovered a second higher grade zone of flat lying vanadium mineralization, yielding some of the highest grade V2O5 intercepts to date,” Kettell said.
Victory owns 100% interest in the Iron Point project and said it is well funded to advance the property towards resource estimation and a preliminary economic assessment.
Vanadium is listed as a strategic metal in the U.S. It is used in the steel industry as a strengthening agent, creating a lightweight, high temperature alloy. Vanadium is also a battery metal. Vanadium Redox Batteries are being adopted at a rapid rate in China to support clean, baseload power from renewable resources.
Meanwhile, supply constraints and increasing demand recently drove the vanadium prices above US$25 a pound. However, prices appear to have stabilized at around US$17.50 a pound. That marks a 350% increase from two years ago.
The goal of Victory’s current drill program is to define indicated and inferred resources to NI 43-101 standards and provide samples for metallurgical testing. Due to the recognition of the Upper and New High Grade Vanadium zones, coupled with gold lateral continuity seen between the drill holes, Victory said it has significantly increased its targeted resource envelope at Iron Point.