680 



UNITED STATES MINERAL RESOURCES 



w 1955 



1970 



Figure 74 . — Principal uses of the vanadium consumed in the 

 United States, 1955-70. Data from U.S. Bureau of Mines 

 "Minerals Yearbook" published annually. 



binations with chromium, niobium, molybdenum, 

 nickel, and tungsten ; a limited degree of substitution 

 among these metals is possible but not usually prac- 

 ticed. The class "Other allow steels" shown in figure 

 74 mainly comprises the "high strength -low alloy 

 steels" (HSLA) that are used principally for high- 

 pressure pipelines and construction purposes; the 

 use of this type of steel, and the consumption of 

 vanadium in it, has increased appreciably since the 

 early 1960's. Generally, only 0.02-0.1 percent V is 

 used in most of these steels, but it increases the yield 

 point from about 35,000 psi (pounds per square inch) 

 to the range of 50,000-65,000 psi. Niobium is used 

 with vanadium in some of these HSLA steels, and it 

 can be substituted for vanadium to a considerable 

 extent if desirable from the standpoint of price or 

 supply of these two alloy metals ; other alloy metals 

 can also be used with vanadium or as substitutes for 

 it in some steels. A small amount of vanadium is 

 used, along with other alloying metals, in cast irons 

 made for special purposes. In the future an appreci- 

 able increase in the use of vanadium in the continu- 

 ous casting of steel billets is possible but not likely ; 

 in this practice, vanadium is used along with, or 

 partly in substitution for, aluminum and (or) 

 niobium. 



Vanadium as an alloying agent in nonferrous 

 metals is used chiefly with titanium in the aerospace 

 field, an application that is expected to increase 

 significantly in the future. Vanadium has numerous 

 uses in the chemical industry, especially as a cata- 

 lyst. Vanadium metal, with several other metals 

 added as alloys, is a candidate for use in the nuclear 

 industry as a fuel-cladding material for advanced 

 liquid-metal-cooled fast-breeding reactors ; other can- 

 didates for this application are stainless steels and 

 molybdenum- and cobalt-base alloys. If vanadium is 

 ultimately selected, vanadium requirements after 

 about 1985 would be large. 



From the 1940's until about 1960, the United 

 States was the world's principal producer of vanadi- 

 um, and it enjoyed a moderate export market. In 

 recent years, domestic production has remained fair- 

 ly constant, at about 6,000 short tons V yearly, but 

 consumption has increased and now about equals 

 production; some exporting has continued but is 

 about equaled by imports. Future domestic require- 

 ments are expected to increase appreciably (Nation- 

 al Materials Advisory Board, 1970). Griffith (1970, 

 table 2) predicted domestic demand in the year 2000 

 to range from 25,500 to 37,500 short tons V, pro- 

 jected on the basis of an estimated growth rate of 

 demand higher than that of any other ferrous min- 

 eral. (For comparative figures of the predicted 

 growth rate of demand for the ferrous minerals see 

 table 1, p. 245, U.S. Bureau of Mines (1970).) Using 

 this predicted growth rate of demand, Griffith (1970) 

 estimated cumulative domestic requirements in the 

 1968-2000 period to range from 420,000 to 520,000 

 short tons V; he also estimated known reserves in 

 productive domestic sources to total only 115,000 

 short tons of recoverable vanadium, which indicates 

 an appreciable domestic deficiency. New domestic 

 sources will have to be developed or imports in- 

 creased to meet this deficiency. 



PRODUCTION 



GEOGRAPHIC SOURCES OF VANADIUM 



Figure 75 is a generalized graph showing vanadi- 

 um production for every tenth year from 1910 to 

 1970. A limited and probably desultory U.S.S.R. pro- 

 duction in the 1930's and 1940's is not plotted. Other 

 countries are known to have produced vanadium, but 

 production figures are generally not available, and a 

 category of "other" is not shown on the graph. In 

 1970 this "other" production probably amounted to 

 1,000-2,000 short tons V, most of which came from 

 Canada, Chile, several European countries, and 

 Japan. This "other" category was not significant in 

 earlier years except during World War II, when Ger- 

 many and Japan recovered appreciable vanadium, 

 probably in the order of 3,000 short tons V yearly for 

 a few years. 



GEOLOGIC SOURCES OF VANADIUM 



Figure 76 is a generalized graph showing the 

 geologic types of deposits that yielded the vanadium 

 production shown in figure 75 . The category "Sand- 

 stone and others" represents vanadium production in 

 the United States ; about 90 percent of the total U.S. 

 production during 1910-70 is from sandstone de- 

 posits, a very small part from vanadate ores, and the 



