Bushveld Minerals to acquire South African vanadium assets

Vanadium producer Bushveld Minerals agreed to purchase multiple South African production assets from Duferco for an aggregate cash consideration of $68m.

Bushveld will acquire Duferco's Vanchem business and its subsidiary Ivanti Resources in a staggered manner, with $6.8m paid on Wednesday following the execution of the agreement and the remaining $61.2m to be settled no sooner than 31 July 2019.

For its money, the AIM-listed outfit will acquire Duferco's Vanchem plant, located roughly 200km from its Mokopane project, providing it with immediate production growth and adding around 960 mtV per year.

Bushveld does expect to fork out around $45m on the site to cover refurbishment costs.

Regarding Ivanti, Bushveld acquired the subsidiary due to it holding economic rights to certain secondary vanadium units treated within the Vanchem plant and its ability to generate profits from the sale of these secondary units back to the plant.

Chief executive Fortune Mojapelo said: "It is with great pleasure that we announce another transformative acquisition for Bushveld Minerals and its shareholders.

"This acquisition is core to our growth strategy of becoming a leading, low-cost, vertically integrated producer and our ability to adequately supply the burgeoning energy storage sector."

As of 0935 BST, Bushveld shares had shot up 16.85% to 28.98p.