Wednesday’s Letter To The Editor

The announcement that U.S. Vanadium has purchased the vanadium processing plant near Hot Springs will have an enormous effect on the local and state economy.

An initial investment of $8.5 million over the next 18 months, including the hiring of 70 to 90 employees, is just the beginning of unlimited future investment in the exciting development of vanadium redox flow batteries.

The plant is the only one in the Americas that produces the world’s highest-purity vanadium pentoxide.

Vanadium redox batteries are used to store electricity from solar and wind farms. These batteries have dramatic benefits over lithium-ion batteries presently used for storage of electricity.

The battle for vanadium metal is a worldwide battle. Presently this battle is being won by China and Russia. Mining of vanadium-bearing ore is only done in South Africa, China and Russia. The open-pit mining east of Hot Springs is no longer feasible but the extraction of vanadium from many byproducts of various manufacturing and refining industries provides the source of the basic vanadium to be converted at the U.S. vanadium plant.

Jack McKinney

Hot Springs VillageEditorial on 10/23/2019

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