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First Vanadium (TSXV: FVAN) has extended its Carlin vanadium deposit in Nevada by 300 metres, or 15%, to the south with newly acquired historical data. The strike length of the deposit now totals more than 2.1 kilometres.
The Carlin project is considered the largest, highest grade primary vanadium deposit in North America.
Two historical holes and trenches completed by the property’s previous owner, Union Carbide, in 1968 intersected vanadium outside the current resource.
The holes cut 0.91% vanadium pentoxide over 7 metres from 1.5 metres downhole and 0.51% vanadium pentoxide over 13.7 metres from 44 metres downhole. The two surface trenches graded 0.58% vanadium pentoxide over 15.2 metres and 0.76% vanadium pentoxide over 9.1 metres.
First Vanadium president and CEO Paul Cowley said the new information supported the project’s potential for expansion in a prepared statement.
First Vanadium tabled an updated resource estimate for the project earlier in 2019. The project now contains 24.16 million indicated tonnes grading 0.615% vanadium pentoxide for 303 million lb. vanadium pentoxide as well as 6.5 million inferred tonnes at 0.51% vanadium pentoxide for 75 million lb. vanadium pentoxide.
The company has run metallurgical tests on nine composite samples from drill holes across the project containing oxidized and unoxidized material of varying grades. Preliminary test results have returned 92% to 98% extraction rates for all kinds of material.
(This article first appeared in The Northern Miner)
