Vanadium is widely dispersed in the earth's crust occurring in many types of deposits. Most vanadium is currently obtained as a by-product or co-product from titanomagnetites, petroleum, uranium ores, and phosphate rock. Table 1 shows the abundance of vanadium in the earth's crust relative to some familiar elements.

Commercial production of vanadium was begun in the 1960s when it was required for evaluation as a structural material for breeder reactors. ATI Wah Chang and several other companies produced small quantities for this purpose. In 1979, ATI Wah Chang again began to produce vanadium in 400-700 lb. ingots. Recent demand has justified scale-up to produce 16" diameter ingots weighing up to 4500 lbs. This increased demand for vanadium has been due, in part, to its many attractive properties. These unique properties include:

• Relatively low density (6.1 gms/cc)

• Low neutron capture cross section

• Relatively high strength at elevated temperature

• Good fabricability

• Low rate of neutron embrittlement

• Relative abundance

• Corrosion resistance

• Superconductivity

• Low-temperature ductility.