Charging Up: Vanadium in the Age of Defense and AI-Driven Demand

Vanadium is now listed as a critical mineral in both Canada and the US.

For years, the metal has been regarded as a valuable addition to the industrial sector. Its role in the structural integrity of steel buildings and bridges led to a 90 percent mark in overall vanadium use. This trend is changing in an era of digital takeover and artificial intelligence (AI) demand, pushing the metal to emerge as a power source for grid-scale batteries.

The resource market now looks to companies like VanadiumCorp Resource (TSXV:VRB,OTCQB:VRBFF,FWB:NWNA), which are developing mineral resources, and advancing processing technology and electrolyte capabilities toward commercialization.

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​Strategy and supply

Information from the US Geological Survey reveals that 110,000 metric tons of vanadium were produced in 2025. Of this total, 82,000 metric tons came from China, while 21,000 metric tons were produced by Russia. This shows how a bulk of the metal’s supply remains concentrated in such countries, a vulnerability that shows not only in actual supply, but also in reliable access to processing, purification and downstream manufacturing.

This concentration is heightened by a growing demand across sectors utilizing vanadium. The steel and alloy industries, for example, have long accounted for roughly 90 percent of the metal’s demand. A report by World Bank Group states that global steel production “will remain the dominant consumption market for vanadium over the coming decade.” Battery storage, on the other hand, is estimated to account for 10 percent of overall demand by 2030.

“To meet this growing demand, global vanadium supply will need to increase by 6.9 percent per year between 2022 and 2030,” the World Bank added, implying the need for more producing mines and a diversified supply chain.

Vanadium is listed as a critical mineral in countries such as the US and Canada, areas that make significant contributions to the North American supply chain.

The US retained its designation of the metal as a critical mineral in late 2025 as part of a broader strategy: to support the path towards domestic production and away from import dependence.

In 2026, the Defense Logistics Agency also awarded vanadium pentoxide supply contracts for the National Defense Stockpile. Included was US Vanadium, which was directed to supply domestically produced high-purity vanadium pentoxide flake over the next three years. The company said that this is the largest single offtake contract it has received thus far.

Canada, on the other hand, included vanadium in its inaugural list of 31 critical minerals published in 2021. The current version lists vanadium as among the 34 minerals considered essential to its economy, given its potential as a critical metal for clean technology and advanced manufacturing.

Besides new deposits, projected growth and continuous demand for vanadium translate into a greater need. North America cannot simply build its supply from the ground up; it has to understand how to handle and metallurgically transform vanadium into products that can power the future.

​Foundations and applications

Vanadium’s positioning as a metal for the future has its roots in the past.

The US Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management shared that in 1940, the Vanadium Corporation of America established a vanadium ore-buying station near Monticello, Utah, given high demand for the metal as a steel hardener amid a war between Europe and Asia. “Eventually, enough ore was stockpiled that the federal government constructed a vanadium mill the corporation would operate at the site,” the office added. This establishes vanadium’s historical role in the steelmaking sector, a part it will likely continue to play for today’s industrial environment.

A growing number of AI data centers are currently adding to overall steel construction demand, with the “Global Structural Steel Market Outlook, 2030” estimating that the global steel market is projected to reach a size of US$168.05 billion by 2030.

Besides steel, AI data centers are also pushing another layer of energy and electricity demand. “(They) need something different: not just stored electricity, but guaranteed power stability,” the World Economic Forum notes, explaining that the massive amount needed to power a data center calls for long-duration storage needed to efficiently shift electricity from periods of high generation to periods of high demand.

Meanwhile, Canada's own critical minerals strategy names vanadium among essential defense metals. Defense application is also listed among the three priority value chains outlined in the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy, where military armor plating, vehicle axles, piston rods and crankshafts are listed as vanadium’s direct products, among others.

Moreover, the strategy identifies vanadium as part of a broader value chain opportunity, reading: “There is value to be captured by increasing exports for allies, and expanding domestic refining, processing and components manufacturing.” This framing was supported by non-partisan initiative New Economy Canada (NEC), which said that defense investments can be leveraged “to accelerate innovative clean tech, battery technology and materials innovation, powered by clean, abundant and affordable electricity.”

“While the focus is on the defense industrial strategy, linking it with the recently announced automotive and forthcoming electricity strategies will provide wide-ranging opportunities beyond the traditional defense sector by driving civilian innovation, commercialization and competitiveness at the same time,” concluded NEC President Merran Smith.

​Flowing into batteries

Included in vanadium opportunities beyond the traditional defense and construction sectors are vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). VRFBs are a separate flow battery technology which store energy in a liquid vanadium-based electrolyte held in external tanks. This means the amount of electrolyte is independent of the size of the electrochemical stacks. This power and energy separation makes VRFBs applicable for long-duration and utility-scale storage, and allows for a notably lower fire risk.

In Laufenburg, Switzerland, tech company Invinity was selected to design the largest installation ever attempted: a vanadium flow battery of up to 1.5 gigawatt-hours. This invention is for a planned AI data centre and technology campus, with room to expand to 2.1 gigawatt-hours in later phases.

The project, still in its design and engineering phase, is intended to support renewable energy integration and grid stabilization alongside the campus's power needs. It illustrates the kind of demand vanadium could increasingly serve: every VRFB deployed requires vanadium electrolyte, creating a second, largely independent source of vanadium demand alongside steel. This ties to the narrative that, rather than competing with defense-driven demand, the presence of VRFBs reinforces the need for more vanadium, thus the need for a stronger and diversified supply chain.

VanadiumCorp and the Lac Doré project

At the center of addressing the supply chain gap is Vancouver-based VanadiumCorp Resource, an explorer working towards targeting a resource and building capability across mining, processing and downstream production. The company fully owns its flagship Lac Doré project and the Iron-T project, both centered on vanadium-titanium-iron mineralization and located in the mining-friendly jurisdiction of Québec.

Located 27 kilometers from the mining city of Chibougamau, Lac Doré boasts exceptionally low impurities that facilitate high vanadium recovery. The project’s historical estimate is at 214.93 million metric tons in the measured and indicated categories, grading 0.4 percent vanadium oxide, with an estimated 52.97 million metric tons of magnetite concentrate grading 1.3 percent vanadium oxide. The company noted that these mineral resources do not establish economic viability. Still, these numbers point towards a more positive exploration at the site, one that could eventually contribute to a more secure, domestically sourced supply chain.

Beyond its mineral resources, VanadiumCorp is developing proprietary hydrometallurgical processes designed to recover vanadium, iron and titanium from vanadiferous titanomagnetite feedstocks and holds various patent protections in leading global jurisdictions. Complementing this strategically is its demonstration electrolyte plant in Val des Sources, Québec, established to demonstrate production of high purity electrolyte for vanadium flow batteries.

This battery electrolyte pilot plant is supported by Québec government funding administered through PRIMA Québec, with PRIMA also identifying a research partnership involving VanadiumCorp, CIMMS and Université de Sherbrooke. As announced in November 2024, CellCube, a leading international vanadium flow battery manufacturer, approved a sample of the plant’s electrolyte as meeting its technical specifications. This represented an initial validation milestone, with testing of larger quantities in CellCube’s battery systems identified as the next development step. Through its Vanadium Énergie Nordique subsidiary, the company is positioning the project for further development, strategic partnerships and potential commercialization.

Together, these efforts by VanadiumCorp hold potential to address the current vanadium bottleneck, wherein the growth of the supply chain is not something a mineral deposit alone can solve. They showcase possibilities for more domestic processing capabilities relevant to steel and defense supply chains, and an electrolyte platform aimed at the emerging flow battery and long-duration energy storage market.

Investor takeaway

Vanadium's traditional role in steel gave it decades of stable, practical demand. Its growing importance in defense and its emergence in a new battery market show that this metal is finally getting the current it deserves, proving it can boost the power of both national security and the digital economy.

For a market concentrated among a handful of producing countries, this combination raises the value of diversified, North American development. Investors plugged into this space may find answers in companies like VanadiumCorp, which are positioning themselves to be a positive charge in an increasingly high-voltage market.

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