In what has been a story with a bullish long-term outlook, Bushveld Minerals Limited (LON:BMN) shareholders will be reassured by news of share prices recovering from a dip last week.
For those unfamiliar with the firm, Bushveld is a mineral development company that focuses on vanadium, titanium, phosphate, tin and thermal coal extraction and centres its exploration in South Africa and Madagascar.
The company are among the forerunners that currently sit in the spotlight of keen forums of traders, with the last few days seeing a sharp recovery and return to form for what -until last week – seemed like an unassailable rise.
Bushveld have enjoyed success off the back of a boom in vanadium prices, which are at their second highest level since the turn of the century – with only a marginal spike needed to see prices equal a four-decade high. While the last boom came off the back of speculative resource grabbing with the boom of the Chinese economy, this spike applies more specifically to vanadium, and has scope for long-term growth. While much of the vanadium demand in recent years has been attributed to climbing demand for steel, forecasts state that a significant portion of future demand will be made up of increased demand from energy storage players, particularly regarding the development of the vanadium redox flow battery.
What Bushveld have managed to do is seemingly time the set-up of its own energy storage subsidiary – Bushveld Energy – to perfection. The recent vanadium supply deficit looks set to continue into the new year, putting further upward pressure on the price of limited vanadium resources, which are forecast to be in growing demand in coming months.
In the last two years, Bushveld’s share price has increased by 500% and its value has increased by a factor of ten – its base in South Africa and acquisition of Vametco mines earlier this year gives it a position of primacy, with a 4% stake in the global vanadium market.
Going forward, Bushveld will undoubtedly hope to capitalise on a potentially lucrative market with a sizeable stake in a resource in short supply. The company’s share prices are currently trading at 48.22p, up 5.99% or 2.72p in morning trading. In their most recent update, SP Angel analysts reiterated their ‘Buy’ stance on Bushveld stock.