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The Gibellini project |
Production
plan |
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| Location and geology |
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The Gibellini property is located in Eureka
County, Nevada, about 27.5 miles south of the
town of Eureka. The property is situated on the
east flank of the Fish Creek Range in the Fish
Creek Mining District and is easily accessed by
dirt road extending westward from US Highway 50.
The property is approximately 3,397 acres (1,374
hectares) and
contains the Gibellini Hill and Louie Hill
deposits. |
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The Gibellini vanadium deposits occur within an
allocthonous fault wedge of organic-rich
siliceous mudstone, siltstone, and chert, which
forms a northwest trending prominent ridge.
These rocks are described by Noranda as thin
bedded shales, very fissile and highly folded,
distorted and fractured (Condon, 1975). In
general, the beds strike north-northwest and dip
from 15 to 50° to the west. Outcrops of the
shale are scarce except for along road cuts and
trenches. The black shale unit which hosts the
vanadium resource is from 175 to over 300 feet
thick and overlies gray mudstone. The shale has
been oxidized to various hues of yellow and
orange up to a depth of 100 feet. |
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Google Earth location -
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| Mineralization and
deposit type |
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In the oxidized zone, complex vanadium oxides
occur in fractures in the sedimentary rocks
including metahewettite (CaV6
O16 —H2O),
bokite (KAl3 Fe6
V26 O76
—30H2O), schoderite, and
metaschoderite (Al (PO4)
(VO4)—6-8H2O).
In the unoxidized sediments, vanadium occurs in
organic material (kerogen) made up of fine
grained, flaky, and stringy organism fragments
less than 15 microns in size. |
Other
workers found vanadium mineralization to occur
within manganese modules (psilomene family) in
the shale. XRD mineralogy work by SGS
Lakefield Research in Ontario, Canada reported
the occurrence of the vanadium mineral
fernandinite (CaV8
O20 -– H2O).
Other minerals reported to occur at Gibellini
are marcasite, sphalerite, pyrite, and
molybdenite.
The top 100 to 120 feet of the Gibellini
vanadium deposit is oxidized, producing various
orange, pink, and purple vanadium oxide
minerals. Vandadium grades in the oxide
zone are generally higher than in the unoxidized
zone but lower than in the transition zone.
Below the oxidized zone is the transition zone
(mixed oxidized and unoxidized rocks), which
typically contains the highest grades in the
deposit. An unoxidized zone underlies the
transition zone and typically is lower in
vanadium grade than the oxide and transition
zones.
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| Development progress |
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A scoping study initiated by AMEC in May of 2008
at the request of American Vanadium was
completed in October of 2008. Results of the
study have been used to guide project development
and define the scope of the feasibility study.
Complete results of the study
can be viewed
in PDF format by clicking here.
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Highlights are below: |
| Description |
Base case |
Mine Plan |
| Annual tonnage, short tons |
2 million |
3 million |
| Mine operator |
RKY |
RKY |
| Process |
Heap leach |
Heap leach |
| Product |
Vanadium pentoxide |
Vanadium pentoxide |
| Mine life |
9.5 years |
5.7 years |
| Annual product |
8.4 million lbs V2O5 |
14.0 million lbs V2O5 |
| Capital cost |
$88 million |
$94 million |
| Operating cost, $/short ton |
$14.36 |
$13.36 |
| Operating cost, $/lb V2O5 |
$3.06 |
$2.97 |
| After Tax IRR |
27% |
40% |
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Dawson Metallurgical Laboratories performed
testing on samples from the Gibilleni deposit to
support the scoping study. Column leach tests,
performed to simulate heap leaching results,
indicated vanadium recovery of 60% for oxide,
70% for transition, and 52% for sulfide. |
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For purposes of the scoping study AMEC utilized
a price regression model to predict the price of
vanadium pentoxide. This model included a
projected long term price for vanadium pentoxide
of $5.90 per pound. Strong price increases
for vanadium in the future demonstrate the
potential price upside. |
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| Resources |
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American Vanadium commissioned an NI 43-101 report
on the Gibellini project that identified the
following mineral resource: |
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Domain |
V2O5
(% cut-off grade) |
Tons
(x1,000) |
V2O5
(%) |
V2O5
(lbs. x1,000) |
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Indicated |
Oxide |
0.160 |
6,487 |
0.26 |
34,389 |
| Transition |
0.137 |
8,679 |
0.43 |
73,932 |
| Sulfide |
0.184 |
2,844 |
0.24 |
13,882 |
| Total
Indicated |
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18,010 |
0.34 |
122,236 |
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| Inferred |
Oxide |
0.160 |
875 |
0.24 |
4,137 |
| Transition |
0.137 |
1,801 |
0.31 |
11,098 |
| Sulfide |
0.184 |
164 |
0.24 |
772 |
| Total
Inferred |
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2,839 |
0.28 |
16,006 |
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To view the NI 43-101 Technical Report as
prepared by AMEC E&C Services and dated October
8, 2008,
click here to open in PDF format. |
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| © American Vanadium Corp. |
Please read our disclaimer. |