The Abenab project in Otavi Mountain Land has the most significant and highest-grade deposit of vanadate ore worldwide.
The two main traded vanadium products are vanadium pentoxide (V205) and ferrovanadium (FeV).
V205 is the most common intermediate product from the treatment of magnetite iron ores, vanadium-bearing slags, and secondary materials.
It can be used directly in some non-metallurgical applications and in the production of vanadium chemicals.
It is also used as an intermediate product for producing FeV, a vanadium alloy used as a strengthening or hardening agent in the manufacturing of high-strength steel.
A new catalyst for the increasing demand for vanadium is the growing application of VRFBs (Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries), with current forecasts estimating that VRFBs will account for 20% of vanadium consumption by 2030.
While demand continues to grow for vanadium, supply remains constrained, with very limited new suppliers expected to come on stream.
China produces more than 70% of vanadium through the co-production of steel products.
Most of the supply feedstock from China comes from steel plants that process low-grade vanadium-bearing magnetite ores to produce steel and vanadium slag, which is then further processed through the salt roast and leach operations.
Mineralisation at Abenab is in the form of the oxide minerals descloizite and vanadinite.
The vanadium mineralisation takes several forms, including breccia clast infill, fine grain fracture fill, open space crystal growth, and clay-filled cavities.
Golden Deeps holds an 80% interest in the Abenab Vanadium-Lead-Zinc Project, which covers 35 km in the Otavi Mountain Land.
A triangle linking the towns of Tsumeb, Grootfontein, and Otavi creates a boundary to the Otavi Mountain Land.
The region is a globally significant base metal province with production from several mines, including the now-closed Tsumeb, Kombat, and Berg Aukas.
Three of the five EPLs, 3543, 5496, and 3743, are highly prospective for copper, lead, zinc, and vanadium mineralisation.
The Abenab Mine is one of the most important historical mines in Namibia. Records indicate that between 1921 and 1938, the mine produced 1.8 Mt @ 1.05% V2O5 (plus zinc and lead) for 42 Mlbs (102,000 t) of concentrate, grading 18% V2O5, 13% Zn, and 42% Pb.
South West Africa Company operated the Abenab Mine as an open pit and underground mine from 1921 to 1947, primarily for lead and zinc.
Initial production was 30 to 80 tonnes of high-grade vanadium ore, recovered by blasting and hand-sorting. By 1923, the mine had been developed and operated at a yearly production rate of 1,000 to 2,000 tons.
The pipe was mined to a depth of about 215 metres until reduced grades and the flow of underground water rendered further mining uneconomic.
Tsumeb Corporation, Anglo American, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Avonlea Minerals conducted exploration following the mine closure.
Avonlea Minerals completed a diamond drilling program in December 2011 targeting the Abenab area’s potential for near-surface and down-dip mineralised extensions to the mine.
The Christiana Mine, formerly known as Abenab West, was mined between 1947 and 1958.
Several open pits were dug, and several shafts were sunk to access the mineralisation. Extensive underground level development was carried out over at least 1,000 m of mineralised strike extent and at least 380 m below the surface.
Historically, the mine produced vanadium, lead, and zinc concentrates using simple gravity separation techniques. Production from the mine is reported to have been 540,000 t at 10% Pb and 2.6% V2O5 (plus Zn).
Golden Deeps has five EPLs: 5496, 3543, 5232, 5233, and 5234.
Golden Deeps also owns the Nosib Block prospect, 20 km southwest of Abenab, where a zone of shallow, high-grade vanadium-copper-lead-silver mineralisation has been identified.
Additionally, Golden Deeps owns the Khusib Springs Mine, a high-grade mine near Grootfontein.
The deposit was discovered early in the 1990s through mapping and drilling and went into production in 1995.
Approximately 300,000 tons at 10% Cu, 584 g/t Ag, and 1.8% Pb were mined from the deposit.
Khusib Springs has a geological setting similar to Tsumeb, one of the world’s major copper producers, with a historical resource of 27 Mt at 4.3% Cu, 10% Pb, 3.5% Zn, and 95 g/t Ag.
In June 2024, Golden Deeps reported a substantial mineral resource upgrade for Nosib and Abenab vanadium, copper, lead, zinc, and silver deposits.
The new mineral resources represent an increase of 210,000 tons and an upgrade from entirely inferred mineral resources to two-thirds of the mineral resources now in the measured and indicated categories.
Golden Deeps says 84% of the Nosib maiden mineral resource is within an optimised pit shell, with a predominant (90%) oxide mineralisation associated with the vanadium-copper-lead hydroxide mineral mottramite. The metallurgical testwork has shown that this mineralisation is readily recoverable using gravity concentration, producing a high-grade concentrate. These results provide concrete evidence of the value and potential for the extraction of mineral resources.
The company has also upgraded the mineral resources of the Abenab vanadium, lead, and zinc deposits from entirely inferred to predominantly indicated mineral resources by incorporating more recent diamond drilling results and re-modelling the mineralisation.
The Nosib optimised open-pit resource is combined with the Abenab underground resource to produce an integrated mining and processing development study for producing high-grade vanadium-copper-lead-zinc-silver concentrate.
Golden Deeps CEO Jon Dugdale said the release of these new, upgraded, vanadium-copper-lead-zinc-silver mineral resources for the company’s Nosib and Abenab deposits is an essential milestone.
Dugdale said critical development studies into integrated vanadium, copper, lead, zinc, silver, and concentrate production projects are being completed.
He added that further drilling will extend copper-silver sulphide resources at Nosib and other targets, such as the high-grade Khusib Springs deposit.
“The company sees near-term potential to develop high-grade concentrate production to supply downstream producers of renewable energy products and establish substantial copper-silver sulphide resources for a longer-term project,” Dugdale said.
According to Dugdale, the company seeks to take advantage of the favourable price trajectory for these essential commodities for the global renewable energy transition.
