[Ferro-alloys.com]  Nevada Vanadium is now a separate company, and its chief executive officer, Ron Espell, said the current schedule calls for production to begin in early 2024, if the Gibellini Project is permitted as a mine.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management was expected to release the draft environmental impact statement on the proposed mine in Eureka County in February, and Espell said the draft includes an alternative for Gibellini to be a renewable energy operation.

The company that recently spun off from Silver Elephant Mining Corp. is looking at solar power to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the mine by half from 40,000 tons, and Espell said that “BLM loved it. That’s what we are bringing to the table.”

The plan calls for solar panels on 32 acres, and Nevada Vanadium also may use electrical haul trucks, he said.

Espell said the alternative energy plan is “cutting edge,” and Nevada Vanadium hopes to incorporate that plan, but “if it doesn’t make sense economically, we’re not going to do it.” The company is in the process of a feasibility study of Gibellini.

The study also will consider the price of vanadium, and that will need to be considered before a final construction decision, he said. The rate of return is 25% if the price is $10 per pound.

Vanadium has many uses, including strengthening steel and in the aerospace industry and for batteries. Vanadium is lightweight and strong, and Espell said high-tech uses will drive demand.

The alternative energy proposal added time to the EIS process, with a “ripple effect” throughout the draft document for the BLM’s Battle Mountain District, Espell said.

Nevada Vanadium’s new online presentation predicts the BLM will issue the record of decision for the proposed mine in the second quarter of this year.

The company plans to produce 10 million pounds of vanadium a year, mining the ore from an open pit, after roughly 18 months of construction time. Espell said the expectation continues to be 120 workers will be needed for construction and 113 workers for operations.

“It will be just heap leach and process facilities,” he said, because the oxide ore doesn’t require a mill, tailings dam or roaster “so it makes it a lot less expensive.”

Vanadium will be leached with sulfuric acid, which will be brought in by rail to Carlin.

Espell said closure plans call for rinsing a completed leach pad, and “we actually recover acid for the next cell.”

Gibellini, which the BLM earlier stated was expected to be the first vanadium mine in the United States, also will produce yellowcake from the uranium that will be separated from the vanadium.

“We’ve got to pull it out anyway,” Espell said of the uranium, so the company decided to install a uranium recovery unit and precipitate yellowcake, which will be put in special steel drums and shipped by truck.

“One truck will go straight where it needs to go, so the yellowcake is never rehandled,” he said.

He said the average granite countertop has 18 parts per million of uranium, while the uranium from the vanadium mine will be 12 parts per million. The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services has already issued the uranium permit for Gibellini.

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission assisted the health department, according to Espell.

In the pre-EIS stage, the BLM received public comments on Nevada Vanadium’s plan to process the uranium to sell roughly 50,000 pounds of yellowcake per year.

Reno-based Great Basin Resource Watch wrote lengthy comments in September ahead of the draft EIS, and the executive director, John Hadder, said in February one of the organization’s biggest concerns is “how the heap leach facility will be handled,” because of the acid leaching process.

Another concern is the production of yellowcake that “at some point will be converted to something very radioactive,” he said, referring to the eventual use of yellowcake for nuclear power. “The hazard comes later, although it is toxic and it’s very important that it is handled carefully.”

Another concern is water, Hadder said. Nevada Vanadium expects to lease 650 gallons per minute from the Fish Creek Ranch and pipe it to the mine site.

There also is the “dark skies issue,” because Gibellini is in an area where the sky is dark and unaffected by lights, he said, adding that Nevada Vanadium proposed using lighting that is directed downward to help address that concern.

Hadder said GBRW will “take a hard look at the project as it proceeds through the state and federal levels. We want to make sure all concerns are being addressed as much as possible.”

Along with the uranium concerns brought up in comments, the BLM is looking at the sage grouse issue, and Espell said the project will generate credits with the Sage Grouse Ecosystem Technical Team with steps taken, such as installing electric lines, a water pipeline and the water tank underground to lessen disturbance for the sage grouse habitat.

The power line coming from Calibre Mining’s Pan Mine will be moved from the access road, as well. Pan is roughly 18 miles from the Gibellini site.

“We have done everything we can to minimize impact to sage grouse,” Espell said.

The Gibellini vanadium project is roughly 20 miles south of the town of Eureka on BLM mining claims that include the 6,456 acres of the Gibellini site and 4,077 acres of the Bisoni claims that Silver Elephant acquired from CellCube Energy Storage Systems Inc. in 2020.

Silver Elephant was the parent of Nevada Vanadium at the time, but Nevada Vanadium was spun out earlier this year to stand on its own as was a nickel subsidiary.

“A lot of investors want to invest in vanadium or nickel. Silver Elephant keeps its silver property,” Espell said.

Silver Elephant’s plan of arrangement provided for each shareholder of Silver Elephant to receive in exchange for every 10 pre-consolidation shares one share of Silver Elephant, one share of Flying Nickel Mining Corp., one share of Nevada Vanadium and two shares of Battery Metals Royalties Corp.

Post-arrangement, Nevada Vanadium is a new Canadian company with 50 million common shares outstanding, holding a 100% interest in Gibellini, and Flying Nickel is a new Canadian company with 57.84 million shares outstanding and 100% interest in the Minago nickel project in Manitoba.

Battery Metals will hold a 2% royalty on Nevada Vanadium and Flying Nickel and nearly 23 million shares of Nevada Vanadium, representing 45.9% of shares, and nearly 23 million shares of Flying Nickel, representing 37.9%, according to the announcement from Vancouver-based Silver Elephant.

Silver Elephant, with a little more than 24 million outstanding shares after completion of the arrangement, holds a 100% interest in the Pulacayo silver project and the El Triunfo gold and silver project, both in Bolivia, as well as 31.73 million shares of Battery Metals, or 37.9%.

John Lee, who is CEO and chairman of Silver Elephant, is chairman of Nevada Vanadium

• [Editor:tianyawei]