Tando Resources firms up DSO potential at SPD with confirmation of new vanadium pipe cluster find
Tando Resources has confirmed the presence of a new vanadium pipe cluster at SPD that was identified via a magnetic survey earlier this month.
Vanadium explorer Tando Resources (ASX: TNO) has firmed up the direct shipping ore potential at its flagship SPD vanadium project in South Africa after confirming a new high-grade vanadium pipe cluster find.
The vanadium pipe cluster was identified via a magnetic survey earlier this month, with the survey defining a 400m by 400m target. Tando followed up at the target with sampling and mapping and has now confirmed the presence of a new vanadium pipe cluster.
Assays from the sampling program are pending, but the company noted that on-ground inspection of the pipe cluster has indicated the pipes are similar to ones already mapped and sampled within the project.
Previous surface sampling at other pipes across SPD returned numerous in-situ vanadium grades above 2%, and Tando anticipates this latest find will produce comparable results.
According to Tando, the new cluster has been added to the maiden drilling schedule and will be tested in the upcoming campaign, which is due to begin before the end of the month.
“While we already have a globally significant project at SPD, there is now a significant number of these high grade pipes demanding our investigation,” Tando managing director Bill Oliver told Small Caps.
“To confirm the effectiveness of our magnetic survey is pleasing but the real test will come in the upcoming drilling,” he added.
He said the discovery of the high-grade vanadium pipes across SPD could potentially offer the company any early source of DSO revenue, while it completes technical and economic studies at the primary SPD vanadium deposit.
SPD vanadium deposit
Tando initially secured SPD for the presence of its primary SPD vanadium deposit where a foreign SAMREC resource of 513 million tonnes grading 0.78% vanadium had been defined.
In addition to shoring up the DSO potential of the vanadium pipe clusters, Tando aims to convert the SPD resource to comply with the JORC code.
The company anticipates the updated resource will be released by October.
Once the resource has been calculated, Tando plans to move straight to a phase two drilling campaign to update the resource to indicated category.
Tando is targeting the growing vanadium market, which is seeing mounting demand as a result of the strengthening steel sector and the emerging vanadium redox flow battery market.
Vanadium redox flow batteries are believed to possess multiple advantages over the current lithium-ion battery.