The hits included 36 metres grading 0.95% vanadium oxide (V2O5) from surface and 21m at 1.03% V2O5 from 37m, as well as narrower (12-17m) but higher grade intersections 1.22-1.33% V2O5 elsewhere along a target zone said to measure more than 4km.

Technology Metals’ ground is on strike from Australian Vanadium’s Gabanintha vanadium project that has a high grade resource of 57 million tonnes grading 1% V2O5.

So far as miners and potential miners go, grades above 1% V2O5 are seen as desirable, though anything above 0.8% V2O5 is potentially of interest – all things being equal (such as metallurgy and location for example).

Technology Metals listed late last year after a A$4 million IPO.

Vanadium has traditionally been used in the steel industry because it adds strength and reduces weight.

However a growing use is in vanadium redox batteries, especially in light of the strong push toward renewable energy storage technologies.

Vanadium redox batteries are claimed by their supporters to provide an efficient storage and re-supply solution for renewable energy, with high capacity suitable for large scale applications.

They are able to “time-shift” large amounts of previously generated energy for later use, and hence could provide a grid scale solution to key issues that typically confront renewable energy sources like sun and wind.

The batteries are also said to be easily scalable, have “very long” life span, “excellent” charge retention and can discharge fully with no damage.

Possibly the main negative seen with the technology at the moment is its cost, making it not overly suitable for domestic use.

Again though, supporters believe that will come down over time with further development and increased scale of the sector.

According to Technology Metals and others in the growing space, widespread adoption of vanadium redox batteries could increase demand for vanadium by 10,000-20,000tpa by 2025 – versus consumption of 1000t in this area in 2014.

Meanwhile demand in the traditional vanadium consumptive sectors is set to increase to 131,000tpa by 2025 – from about 90,000tpa currently.

After plumbing US$2-3 per pound in recent times, the vanadium price has recently been trading at about US$5.56 per pound – which is said to be around its 10-year average.

However if major Brazilian producer Largo Resources is right about the market being in deficit for the past six years is true – during which time stockpiles must have been drawn down to meet demand –  then there could be some interesting further price action on the way.