ASX-listed Okapi Resources is targeting a two-commodity play at its Rattler uranium project in Utah, United States, after a rock chip sampling program confirmed the samples also contained high-grade vanadium. The results ran up to 12.5 per cent vanadium pentoxide, some way above the general concentrations of up to 2.5 per cent found in some deposits.
In what will also serve as a shot in the arm, the company tabled results showing 18 of the 28 samples bagged delivered encouraging grades that went over 0.5 per cent vanadium pentoxide.
The Rattler uranium project has potentially been given a new lease of life after Okapi decided to have the pulp samples, that boasted a good set of uranium numbers, reanalysed for vanadium.
Remarkably, 15 of the 28 high-grade uranium samples delivered values greater than 1000 parts per million triuranium octoxide and Okapi has now found vanadium sprinkled in the mix.
Vanadium has historically served as an important byproduct credit in the La Sal mining district, that takes in the Rattler operation, indicting the find could prove a lucrative investment for Okapi.
The rock chip samples were gathered from outcrops and mine dumps in the Sunnyside claim block around the now-abandoned Sunnyside Mine, in addition to the mineralised sedimentary horizon in the old Rattlesnake open pit and from the outcrop and dumps outside the entrances of the old mine workings.
Management says it has already been granted a drill permit to probe its Utah ground and is now looking to follow up on the auspicious results with a more extensive drilling play.
Vanadium is listed on the US Government's Critical Minerals list, cementing its place among a range of commodities thought to be essential to the economic or national security of the country
The material is mainly utilised in the production of high-strength steel, products used across defence and aerospace applications but in recent times has been used in green technology in items such as batteries.
Vanadium is a crucial component in the global push towards low carbon energy production and is typically used to make electrolytes for vanadium redox flow batteries, or "VRFBs", master alloys and titanium oxide pigments.
VRFBs are commonly used to store energy generated by solar and wind-powered systems and to provide power to utility networks, commercial sites and industrial enterprises.
The Rattler Uranium project is in eastern Utah's San Jan County, about 5km west of La Sal and 40km south of Moab. The project is in the historic La Sal mining district, home to a number of active and closed mines.
Energy Fuels Inc's White Mesa uranium-vanadium mill, the country's only functioning conventional uranium mill, is only about 85km away from Okapi’s Rattler project.
As the global transition towards cleaner energy solutions gathers pace, Okapi could find itself at the tip of the spear of the emerging sector with its Rattler project, that now looks primed to deliver on two fronts.
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By Matt Birney
