Bushveld Minerals expects flat production from vanadium plant

Bushveld Minerals released an update on operations at its vanadium mining operation Vametco Alloys in South Africa.

The company holds a 45% interest in Vametco, which it acquired in conjunction with Yellow Dragon Holdings from Evraz Group in April.

Bushveld said Vametco had a current annual plant capacity of roughly 3,000 metric tonnes of vanadium coming in the form of both Nitrovan, a vanadium product used in the steel industry and modified vanadium oxides (MVO).

The group stated it had produced 2,419 of Nitrovan and MVO in the financial year ending 31 December 2015, and had increased that production 16% to 2,804 MTV last year.

While reporting similar guidance to last year's figures at 30 June this year, the firm expects a multi-phased expansion of the plant currently underway to increase that figure to approximately 5,000 MTV by 2020.

As of 0945 BST, shares had inched forward 1.18% to 9.61p.