[www.ferro-alloys.com]Brazil vanadium miner Largo Resources (TSX: LGO) will need Glencore’s blessing to use vanadium pentoxide from its Maracás Menchen operation to pursue production of an electrolyte product for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRBs) used in grid energy storage applications.

Largo currently supplies all V2O5 from Maracás Menchen to global commodity trader and miner Glencore under an exclusive supply agreement.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Largo and VRB maker Vionx Energy Corporation is aimed at “achieving stable pricing and necessary capacity with an industry leading value proposition for VRB systems, utilising Vionx product technical, cost, and partner advantages combined with Largo supply capacity, cost advantage, and high quality processing capability”.

Any use of V205 production from Largo’s mine that doesn’t involve Glencore needs the consent of the Swiss-based corporation.

“The parties contemplate that [a] definitive agreement will provide that Vionx will be Largo’s  partner for cooperative sales of vanadium products in the utility grid market, and would also see Vionx agreeing to utilise Largo vanadium electrolyte in its VRB systems,” Largo said in a statement.

Largo and Vionx have given themselves three months to come up with a DA.

“This is a historic first step in establishing the first partnership between a VRB company and a global vanadium producer,” Largo president and CEO Mark Smith said.

“We are extremely excited about this opportunity and the industry-leading value proposition that it presents. We are equally excited about joining the world-class ecosystem of Vionx partners including United Technologies Corp., Siemens, 3M, and Jabil.”

David Vieau, president and CEO of Vionx, claimed the partnership with Largo was also the first of its kind in the VRB industry and might position the pair “at the leading edge of a transformative phase for the energy storage industry”.

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• [Editor:Jiang Li Juan ]