By Cyrus S Darabshaw Exclusive To Vanadium Investing News ^{[1] [2]}

January 2010 can clearly be recorded in the books as a good month for vanadium and its associated alloys. The end of the month saw the price of ferro-vanadium ending up at US$ 6 per kg more than the opening price at the start of the month - from $24/$28 per kg to $26-$29 per kg.

Traders have explained the spurt as increased enquiries in this minor metal, leading, in turn, to a shortage in supply. February started off on a similar sentiment but towards the end of the first week, prices in almost all the 3 major markets have stabilised. The Asian markets, especially the Chinese, saw prices tail off as traders started winding down for the Chinese new year. European and the US markets, too, may not see much activity in the coming week.

The past week also saw some positive developments on the mining front. But before we get into that, as promised, here is an update on the political events in South Africa, where there is talk of nationalising its mines:

News agency Bloomberg reports that the youth wing of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has been in contact with Anglo American Plc ^[3] about its proposal to nationalize the country's mines. Quoting a ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, the report says the league is more than convinced that the nationalization of mines would “happen in our lifetime,” Malema told reporters after a weekend meeting to discuss the proposal. Malema is a member of the ANC's policy-making national executive committee.

South Africa is the world's biggest producer of platinum, ferrochrome, manganese and vanadium and the third-biggest supplier of gold ^[4]. But Anglo American, one of the biggest investors in the South African mining business, has said any move by the government to “impair” the industry would have “serious economic costs”, the report said. A company spokesman could not confirm nor deny whether whether the company has held talks with the league on the policy proposals.

In another dispatch on February 2, Bloomberg quoted South African Mines Minister Susan Shabangu as saying, “It won't nationalize mines in my lifetime.” The same report carries on to say that traders, analysts as well as those in the actual business of mining in SA have, as of now, not shown any signs of panic by the treats of nationalization, perceived to be less of a risk to mining companies in South Africa.

At Vanadiuminvestingnews,  we feel that nationalisation has its own set of problems but then again, it is the right of every nation to decide/change its policies to suit its own interests.

Speaking of SA, miningweekly.com reports from Johannesburg that Swiss-based diversified miner Xstrata ^[5] that produces ferrochrome in a joint venture with Merafe Resources ^[6] in South Africa, has reported that production had decreased by 30 per cent in 2009 compared to the previous year as a result of the venture's curtailment of up to 80 per cent of production capacity in late 2008 and early 2009, in response to the poor market conditions.

Ferrovanadium volumes fell by 37 per cent in 2009 owing to the suspension of production at Rhovan project - Xstrata's integrated vanadium operation in South Africa - during the third quarter for extended maintenance. The operation returned to full production in mid-October.

Moving on to other news... the past week saw the publication and announcements of several reports relating to several assays and initial surveys, most of them positive, likely to have an impact on vanadium prices.

Energizer Resources Inc ^[7] (formerly Uranium Star Corp) (OTCBB: URST) announced that it had completed and filed its compliance technical report (SEDAR and EDGAR) for the explored portion of its Green Giant Vanadium Project in Madagascar.

The report was prepared by PEG Mining Consultants and confirmed that the exploration programs completed in 2008 and 2009 had established that at least two large-scale vanadium deposits exist on the Green Giant Property and that the Property merits an aggressive resource definition exploration program consisting of exploratory and infill diamond drilling over vanadium-bearing zones.

The company's recently reported and favourable assay results confirmed that the Manga zone has a high-grade core that is open along strike and at depth, and had been defined over a strike length of 500 metres. The 2010 drill program was expected to commence in May at the end of rainy season, and will focus on expanding the Manga zone over a strike length of 3,000 metres.

Energizer Resources Inc ^[8]is an exploration company with assets in Madagascar (Vanadium) and Northern Quebec (Uranium ^[9]).

Southern Uranium (ASX:SNU) has reported positive drill results as it found an outcropping of vanadium mineralisation at Calvert Hills in the Northern Territory. The Calvert Hills Joint Venture Project under tenement EL24837 is situated 100km west of the Westmoreland uranium field and has similar geological and structural ingredients for shallow-covered unconformity-style uranium deposits.

Southern Uranium has identified prospective locations similar to the Westmoreland setting but under cover by integrating modern geophysical techniques.

As previously reported, a four hole drill program was completed under collaborative drill funding from the NT Government at the end of the September Quarter.

The positive drill results encouraged the prospecting of similar geophysically delineated areas, resulting in the discovery of the Vanadis vanadium prospect.

Southern Uranium Limited ^[10]is a listed resources company focused on copper ^[11] gold and uranium exploration within its Australian tenements.

Cardero Resource Corp ^[12], listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (CDU), as also on other stock exchanges, is commencing drill programs on both, its Longnose Iron-Titanium deposit and TiTac Iron-Titanium-Vanadium deposit, located in north-eastern Minnesota, USA. Previous work by BHP Minerals, a precursor to BHP Billiton (the world's largest mining conglomerate), had estimated that the Longnose deposit contained 27.57 million tonnes at 21.3 per cent titanium dioxide (TiO2).

This historical resource estimate is considered relevant by the company, both for the purposes of the company's decision to initially acquire the property and to guide the company in formulating its resource definition and exploration program for the project. The current drill program will seek to verify the historical resources and includes re-sampling, re-analysis and an independent NI 43-101 resource calculation, which will be completed by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc.

Parallel with this work, planned metallurgical work will build on work previously completed by Pickands-Mather, Hazen Research and the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI). Results are anticipated by mid-2010.

A statement issues by the company said Cardero's focus through 2010 will be to realise the considerable value it believes is locked in its remaining iron ^[13] ore assets in the Marcona District of southern Peru, the Baja district of Mexico and in Minnesota, USA, while continuing to progress its base and precious metal exploration projects in Argentina and Mexico and aggressively seek out and potentially acquire new advanced stage projects.

According to Marketwire, Apella Resources Inc ^[14] (TSX VENTURE: APA) has reported that a further 1000 metres of diamond drilling on the Iron-t project had commenced. This program is a follow-up due to the positive findings from the previous round of drilling, results of which were released December 15, 2009.

Quoting Patrick D  O'Brien, ICD.D, chairman, the report said Apella's recent mineralized drill intersects at Iron-T were suggestive of a significantly enriched Vanadium-Iron-Titanium system.

The Bell River Complex which hosts the Iron-t may be compared to the Lac Dore layered igneous complex (in part owned by Apella) in the Chibougamau district of Quebec, some 250 kms east, and to the Bushveld layered complex of South Africa, the world's most significant source of Vanadium.

At the Iron-T the Vanadium rich horizons are well defined on the ground and aeromagnetic surveys by their highly magnetic susceptibilities. Apella anticipates that at the Iron-T near Matagami the potential is excellent to substantially exceed the known mineralization of the Lac Dore deposit at Chibougamau of which Apella also controls a considerable interest.

Apella was in the news last week for another reason too. The company has been accepted as an associate member of the vanadium specific organization - The Vanadium International Technical Committee (VANITECH ^[15]), headquartered in Kent, UK. VANITEC is a technical and scientific committee which brings together representatives of companies involved in the mining, processing and manufacture of vanadium-containing products for use mainly in the metals and materials manufacturing and chemical industries, world-wide.

Its objective is to promote the use of vanadium bearing materials and thereby to increase the consumption of vanadium. There are 16 current members of VANITEC.

Company news

Largo Resources Ltd (TSX VENTURE: LGO) has engaged Banco Itau BBA (Itau BBA), a subsidiary of Itau Unibanco Group and one of Brazil's leading investment banks, to act as its financial advisor to obtain financing for the development of its Maracas Vanadium Project in Bahia State, Brazil.

Itau Unibanco Group ranks among the largest banks in the world in terms of market capitalization. Itau BBA, its wholesale banking arm, is one of the market leaders in Brazil for M&A, project finance and capital markets transactions, putting it in a unique position for a long term partnership with Largo.

Mark Brennan, president & CEO, stated: "We are extremely excited to be working with Itau BBA for the development of our Maracas project.” Maracas is the highest grade vanadium deposit in the world. Largo Resources Ltd ^[16],  is a Canadian natural resource development and exploration company with two advanced stage projects: the Maracas Vanadium-PGM deposit in Brazil and the Northern Dancer Tungsten-Molybdenum deposit in the Yukon.