In 2018, vanadium was designated as a critical material by the U.S. government due to its importance to the defense and energy storage sectors, with no domestic production and all supplies imported, mostly from Russia, China and South Africa.
A vanadium shortage is expected by 2025, according to Nevada Vanadium, with the rising popularity of the vanadium redox flow battery, a mature technology that is scalable to hundreds of megawatt-hours of storage.
Battery life is projected to be at least 20 years with no degradation of the vanadium or charge density.
However, a story by NPR indicates there are few if any companies making the batteries in the U.S. and the top producer is in China.
The NVV flow diagram suggests the mine’s output is intended for batteries.
Why won’t the government license the technology to American manufacturers?
The metal will be pulled from American soil and processed with American resources.
As with the Keystone Pipeline, enriching our enemies seems to be a top priority of the one-horse pony and his illicit administration.
The Draft EIS for the Gibellini Mine only mentions vanadium redox flow batteries in Section 2.3, the Renewable Energy Alternative to the Proposed Action.
RELATED: Water for Vanadium Mine to Be Supplied by Fish Creek Ranch.
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