Vancouver-based Strategic Resources Inc. (TSXV:SR) has successfully applied for Reservations over the Mustavaara mine area in Finland, and is targeting the global battery market.
The company has also signed a definitive agreement with the bankruptcy estate of Ferrovan Oy to acquire all of the intellectual property, core samples and storage facilities associated with Mustavaara for €150,000.
CEO Scott Hicks said closing of the agreement will be subject to certain conditions, with the main condition being the granting of fully valid Reservations from the Finnish mining authority, Tukes.
Mr Hick said Strategic expects that this should occur in or around the second quarter of this year.
“We view this as a unique opportunity to acquire a large-scale brownfields historical resource and a project that was taken to a Pre-Feasibility Study level in 2012.
“Mustavaara has the potential to supply a growing vanadium redox battery market as well as provide substantial benefits to the Finnish economy.
The team looks forward to building out our portfolio of assets in Finland over the coming years.”
Mustavaara is a large vanadium-iron-titanium deposit, which was mined by the Finnish state company Rautaruukki Oy between 1976 and 1985.
The Project is located in the Municipality of Taivalkoski, 75km southwest of the city of Kuusamo.
The vanadium produced from Mustavaara and the nearby Otanmäki deposit accounted for approximately 10% of the world vanadium production at that time. Mining was suspended due to adverse market conditions and the processing facilities were dismantled in 2001.
Ferrovan commissioned Pöyry Finland Oy to complete a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for the project in 2011. The resulting 2012 PFS outlined a project that would have a concentrator near site and a smelting plant located close to the coast in the city of Raahe.
The PFS was based on a reserve of 97 million tonnes at 13.8% magnetite and 0.91% vanadium in concentrate in the Probable reserve category.
Prior work indicated that the magnetite content could be upgraded by a factor of six as a result of the concentrating process. Consequently, the vanadium grade could also be enhanced significantly from 0.2% vanadium to 0.9% vanadium (equivalent to 1.65% V2O5). This resource is now considered historical.
