Investing In Vanadium: What's That?

“Ultra high-strength and super-light steels are the plastics of the 21st century,” says Chris Mayer, editor of a popular investment newsletter. “There is high demand for these steels for use in everything from jet engines to rail components. In turn, there is a big push for the quirky metals so critical in making them. And in those quirky metals are good opportunities for investors.”

“Vanadium’s primary use: to strengthen steel. Combine it with titanium and you get the best strength-to-weight ratio of any engineered material. That makes it practically irreplaceable in aerospace and other industries. Companies also use vanadium to produce sulfuric acid, and in nuclear power plants. Vanadium also promises new advances in battery technology. Giant vanadium batteries power wind farms and solar power plants.

“The vanadium market also has some interesting quirks. For example, 98% of the world’s vanadium comes from only three countries -- China, Russia and South Africa.

“South Africa, we know, has power issues. China is becoming more a consumer than producer of vanadium. Last year, China ended its export credits for vanadium because it needed the metal more at home. This year, China went further and put an export tariff in place.

“In the great infrastructure boom, vanadium takes its place at the table of other rare and obscure metals that are growing much more important. The price of vanadium, as with many of these metals, is way up… and rising”