London obvious choice for float says boss of Kazakh miner

LONDON was an “obvious” choice for Kazakh-based vanadium producer Ferro-Alloy Resources, its boss said yesterday as the company prepared for a listing in the City.

The firm, which is targeting a market value of nearly £220m when it floats today, will gain access to investors with a good understanding of the exploration market, chief executive Nicholas Bridgen said.

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“Exchanges in Toronto and Australia have a lot of interest in very small cap exploration, and maybe their retail demand understands it better. But I still think London’s a better place for a significant company,” he told City A.M.

Global vanadium markets are growing around eight per cent per year, Bridgen said.

The metal is used to increase the strength of steel for construction work in most of the developed world. It helps ensure steel does not collapse during a fire.

China recently joined the west by introducing laws requiring such steel to be used in all new buildings, opening up a massive market for vanadium producers.

However, another major burgeoning market is likely to open soon as vanadium flow batteries are drafted to store renewable energy, Bridgens said. It is the “front-running technology” in the move to find new battery technologies, he added.

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The metal produces longer-life batteries than traditional lithium-ion, with the added benefit of never catching fire, he added.

Ferro-Alloy has the resource base to double production if vanadium flow batteries take off for large-scale energy storage, Bridgen said.