VanadiumCorp Extends Sherbrooke Lab Work Into a Third Year

VanadiumCorp Resource Inc. (TSXV: VRB) said on September 14, 2026 that a third year of laboratory-scale upstream mineral processing research with Université de Sherbrooke is underway, using vanadiferous titanomagnetite from its 100%-owned Lac Doré property in Québec.

VanadiumCorp Resource Inc. (TSXV: VRB) told the market on September 14, 2026 that its research collaboration with Université de Sherbrooke has entered a third year. The work is laboratory-scale and upstream: it deals with how vanadiferous titanomagnetite, or VTM, from the company's 100%-owned Lac Doré property in Québec behaves when it is crushed, separated and chemically attacked, long before anyone draws a flowsheet for a plant.

The collaboration dates back to a news release of December 13, 2022. Three years on, the company frames the continuation as a reflection of the "strategic relevance" of the work to a longer-term evaluation of Lac Doré. What it has not published is a number: no recovery figure, no grade, no capital estimate, no throughput assumption. For investors, that absence is the story as much as the renewal is.

What upstream processing research actually covers

VTM is an awkward ore. The vanadium sits inside a magnetite lattice alongside titanium and iron, which means the three metals travel together through the early stages of any treatment route and have to be separated by some combination of physical and chemical means. The Sherbrooke program, as VanadiumCorp describes it, examines the relationship between the mineral characteristics of the Lac Doré material and selected physical and hydrometallurgical preparation methods.

Two terms are worth unpacking. Physical preparation is grinding, screening and magnetic separation — mechanical steps that concentrate the magnetic fraction and reject waste rock. Hydrometallurgy is the wet route: acids or other solutions that dissolve the target metals so they can be recovered from liquid rather than roasted at high temperature. The conventional industrial path for vanadium is salt roasting followed by leaching, an energy-intensive process. Any work that tests whether a hydrometallurgical route can do the job on a specific ore body is, in principle, aimed at cutting energy cost and reagent consumption.

"Upstream" is the qualifier that sets the expectations. This is the front end — ore characterisation and preparation — not the back end where a saleable vanadium pentoxide, titanium product or iron unit emerges with a stated purity. Research at this stage generates knowledge that may inform the future evaluation of processing concepts. That is the company's own framing, per the announcement carried by INN Battery Metals, and it is a deliberately modest one.

Three years in, and what has not been disclosed

A university partnership that keeps getting renewed can mean two things. It can mean the results are encouraging enough to justify another funding cycle. It can also mean the technical problem is hard and the work is nowhere near a decision point. Nothing in the September 14 announcement lets an outsider distinguish between the two.

What would distinguish them is a measurable output. On a project of this kind, the disclosures that move the needle are recovery percentages for each of the three metals, reagent consumption per tonne, the concentrate grade achieved by magnetic separation, and eventually a bench-to-pilot step that treats kilograms rather than grams. None of those has been put on the table. Until one is, "third year of research" describes activity, not progress toward production.

The other missing piece is economics. Lac Doré is described as 100%-owned and located in Québec — a jurisdiction with hydroelectric power, an established mining supply chain and an active critical minerals policy, all of which matter to a processing-heavy project. But a processing concept without a capital cost, an operating cost or a throughput rate cannot be compared with anything. Investors evaluating the story are being asked to price optionality on a technical result that has not yet been quantified in public.

The share price the research has to carry

The market is treating VanadiumCorp as a micro-cap option, and the quote reflects it. As of the last trade at 14:00 GMT on September 14, 2026, the OTC line VRBFF changed hands at 0.07, up 4.29% on the day from a previous close of 0.07, having traded between 0.05 and 0.07 during the session. A day range that spans a third of the price at the low end is characteristic of a thinly traded shell-thin float, where a modest order can move the print several percent in either direction. Reading a single day's gain as a verdict on the research would be a mistake.

The wider tape was softer. The S&P 500 tracker (SPY) traded at $760.01, down 0.56%; the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) was at $705.79, off 1.27%; the Dow 30 (DIA) sat at $524.48, down 0.25%. A speculative resource name printing green against a red index day says more about its own order book than about risk appetite.

Investors should also note the three-way listing. The shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange as VRB, in the United States over the counter as VRBFF, and in Frankfurt as NWNA. The Canadian listing is the primary market; the OTC line is a secondary venue where liquidity is typically thinner and the spread wider. Comparing the two quotes without adjusting for the currency and the venue will produce nonsense.

Vanadium's two demand stories, and why titanium and iron matter

Vanadium has a split personality as a commodity. The bulk of demand has historically come from steel, where small additions harden rebar and structural alloys, tying the price to construction cycles. The growth case rests elsewhere — on vanadium redox flow batteries, the long-duration stationary storage technology that pairs with grid renewables and uses vanadium electrolyte as its energy medium. That second market is the one that turns a metallurgical feedstock into a battery metal, and it is why VTM deposits attract attention disproportionate to their vanadium grade.

The polymetallic character cuts both ways. Titanium and iron units alongside the vanadium can improve project economics if they can be recovered saleably, because the revenue is spread across three products rather than one. They can also sink a flowsheet if separating them proves costly, because each additional product stream adds equipment, reagents and a specification to meet. Which of those outcomes applies to Lac Doré material is, in substance, the question the Sherbrooke laboratory is being asked.

What would count as a result

The next meaningful disclosures for this story are technical rather than corporate. Watch for any published recovery or grade data from the current program year; for a shift in language from "laboratory-scale" to bench or pilot testing, which implies larger sample volumes and a step closer to engineering; for any resource statement or economic study on Lac Doré itself; and for the funding arrangement behind the collaboration, since a third year of university research has to be paid for by a company whose shares trade at seven cents.

Absent those, the position is unchanged from December 2022: a wholly owned Québec VTM property, an academic partner, and a processing route still being characterised in glassware.

Key facts

• Stock quote: VRBFF at 0.07, +4.29% on the day, as of 14:00 GMT, Sep 14, 2026
• Listings: TSXV: VRB · OTC: VRBFF · FSE: NWNA
• Asset: Lac Doré property, Québec — 100%-owned, vanadiferous titanomagnetite
• Collaboration: Université de Sherbrooke, established per release dated Dec. 13, 2022; now in year three

Frequently asked questions

What did VanadiumCorp announce on September 14, 2026?

VanadiumCorp Resource Inc. said the third year of its research collaboration with Université de Sherbrooke is underway. The laboratory-scale program studies upstream mineral processing of vanadiferous titanomagnetite sourced from the company's 100%-owned Lac Doré property in Québec, examining how the ore's mineral characteristics respond to selected physical and hydrometallurgical preparation methods.

What is vanadiferous titanomagnetite?

Vanadiferous titanomagnetite, or VTM, is an iron oxide mineralisation that carries vanadium and titanium within the same magnetite structure. Because the three metals occur together, they must be separated during processing. VTM is the dominant global source of primary vanadium but requires more complex treatment than a single-metal ore.

Has the research produced published results?

No recovery rates, concentrate grades, reagent consumption figures or cost estimates have been disclosed. The company describes the work as laboratory-scale research intended to generate knowledge that may inform future evaluation of processing concepts for vanadium, titanium and iron bearing mineralization. No economic study on Lac Doré accompanied the announcement.

Where does VanadiumCorp trade?

The company has three listings: the TSX Venture Exchange under VRB, the over-the-counter market in the United States under VRBFF, and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under NWNA. The TSXV listing is the primary market. As of 14:00 GMT on September 14, 2026, VRBFF traded at 0.07, up 4.29% on the day.

Why is vanadium considered a battery metal?

Vanadium is the active material in vanadium redox flow batteries, a long-duration stationary storage technology used alongside grid-scale renewable generation. That application sits beside vanadium's older and larger market as a strengthening additive in steel, particularly rebar and structural alloys, which ties much of demand to construction activity.

What is the difference between physical and hydrometallurgical processing?

Physical preparation covers mechanical steps such as crushing, grinding, screening and magnetic separation, which concentrate the valuable fraction and reject waste. Hydrometallurgy uses aqueous chemistry — acids or other solutions — to dissolve target metals for recovery from liquid, typically at lower temperatures than the roasting routes conventionally used for vanadium.

Sources

• VanadiumCorp Continues the Third Year of Upstream Mineral Processing Research with Université de Sherbrooke — INN Battery Metals

Photo: https://kaboompics.com/ · Pexels Licence — source