By Desmond McMahon– Exclusive to Vanadium Investing News
CORRECTION: As pointed out by a reader, Energizer Resources’ 55-million-tonne vanadium pentoxide resource is a company target Energizer is working towards confirming and not an official estimate of the resource size. Energizer has issued an additional press release clarifying this and highlighting that the potential mine production numbers are also based on internal company targets and have not been independently reviewed. The press release cautions investors that there is no certainty the project will be viable until an independent analysis is completed.
In its latest press release, Energizer Resources Inc. (TSX.V:EGZ) (OTCBB:ENZR) expanded the resource at its Green Giant Vanadium Project in Madagascar to 55 million tonnes of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) after the company recommenced its 2010 drilling program. Those estimates are up significantly from the 21 million tonnes reported in the company’s NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate released last month.
Based on Energizer’s assertions, which have yet to be audited, the resource would represent a 20-year lifespan for the mine with an annual output of 14,700 tonnes of V2O5. Those numbers are significant and would represent 14 percent of the world’s annual output today.
Energizer, under its former name Uranium Star Corp., acquired a 75 percent interest in the Green Giant property (then known as Three Horses) in September 2007 and began the process of determining the mineralization at the site. When vanadium was discovered on the property in late-2008 the firm began focusing its resources into defining a world-class vanadium deposit and agreed to purchase the remaining 25 percent interest in the property in August 2009.
Currently, Energizer is continuing its 2010 drilling program, which includes a number of step-out drill holes along the main vanadium trend to verify additional mineralized zones previously identified through trenching. The company claims to have identified a continuous, mineralized trend of vanadium approximately 18 kilometers long, “displaying unusually wide widths and with a high-grade core.”
The drilling will also expand into the Manga zone, which is located in the central part of the main 21-kilometer vanadium trend. Initial XRF results obtained from recently completed drill holes confirm continued vanadium mineralization in this zone.
Energizer also holds the rights to several other properties in the early stages of exploration. The Ianapera Property is also in Madagascar and covers 30 km². The company is hoping to find coal or gold, but no results have been reported yet.
The exploration firm holds two more sites in northern Quebec: the Sagar and Ferderber properties, both focused on uranium, gold and copper and in the early stages of exploration drilling.
According to the company’s most recent 2010 Financial statements, it had $4.5 million in cash and cash equivalents on hand at the end of March 2010.
Argex Silver Capital Property
Argex Silver Capital Inc. (TSX.V:RGX) recently reported the final results from drilling at the La Blache property in western Quebec. Many of the intersections include internal dilution of mineralization by unmineralized dykes. Based on these results and the holes that are pending at the lab, Argex plans to return to drilling at the West Hervieux target.
Assay results continue to confirm visual identification of well mineralized massive titaniferous magnetite. Wide intersections of 0.50 percent vanadium pentoxide were found in one hole with 0.52 percent in another. In a third hole, three separate zones of massive titaniferous magnetite were intersected.
Drilling on the La Blache Properties has now seen in excess of 110 holes totaling more than 6000 metres completed in 41 holes at the West Hervieux occurrence and nearly 9000m in 69 holes on the East Hervieux occurrence.
