United Battery Metals’ CEO on the vanadium market opportunity

“A couple of years ago it was trading at $2.50. Last Friday vanadium pentoxide flake closed at $33.10 a pound. That is a very significant run-up. There is a lot of pent-up demand for vanadium because there are so many different applications that are out there. The dominant use for it is in strengthening rebar. 90% of vanadium goes into rebar. Other applications for it are high-performance cutting tools and perhaps most importantly, storage batteries, that is putting a real heavy demand on vanadium as it is produced because there are no large international or national stockpiles of vanadium anywhere.” States Matthew Rhoades, President, CEO and Director of United Battery Metals Corp. (CSE: UBM), in an interview with InvestorIntel Corp. CEO Tracy Weslosky.

Tracy Weslosky: Matt it is so nice to have you. I was looking through your background. You have a substantial history in geology and in the American resource sector in general. They have lured you over to become the CEO of United Battery Metals. Can you tell me how they did this? I am assuming it is because of the vanadium find you have?

Matthew Rhoades: That is the case. I do have a background in consulting on a project in central Nevada that involved vanadium. That and a combination that I am a CPG, a certified professional geologist, which makes me a qualified person for NI 43-101 reports, really kind of teed it up perfectly for this upcoming project on Wray Mesa where they already knew that they had a vanadium resource there, but they needed more to characterize it. They were looking for a person that really had my kind of background.

Tracy Weslosky: You are kind of putting your name on this. Vanadium has got to be the hottest critical material in the world in the market right now. Would you mind just stepping to the side for a second and telling us a little bit more about what is happening in vanadium since you are an expert? 

Matthew Rhoades: It has had a bit of run-up in price just over the last 2 or 3 years; 2 years realistically. A couple of years ago it was trading at $2.50. Last Friday vanadium pentoxide flake closed at $33.10 a pound. That is a very significant run-up. There is a lot of pent-up demand for vanadium because there are so many different applications that are out there. The dominant use for it is in strengthening rebar. 90% of vanadium goes into rebar. Other applications for it are high-performance cutting tools and perhaps most importantly, storage batteries, that is putting a real heavy demand on vanadium as it is produced because there are no large international or national stockpiles of vanadium anywhere.

Tracy Weslosky: For those of you out in InvestorIntel who may not be aware of this, we always are drawing attention to issues of sustainability. It is my understanding that United Battery Metals is striving to be the first to production for vanadium in North America. Can you tell us what that timeline is like because that sounds exciting?

Matthew Rhoades: And it is because we are in an established mining district, the La Sal Creek Mining District, in western Colorado, that is already a mining favorable part of the world. We are already in an area populated by closed mines. It is going to be very easy for us to get back in and get back underground. There is one former mine on our Wray Mesa property called the Geo 1 Mine and we should be able to get underground there. But, we would like to be a producing operation and sending vanadium to market within the next 2 years. We are looking at 2-year timeline…to access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: United Battery Metals Corp. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

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