## 5 Discussion
### Economic Potential of Vanadium and Cobalt in the SAM  
The Fe-Ti-V mineralization in the Krzemianka and Udryn deposits has been considered to be sub-economic since 1996, despite their large geological resources. Identified resources comprise a total of 1.34 billion tons of Fe-Ti-V ore, containing 388.2 million tons of iron and 98 million tons of titanium [30]. The laboratory tests carried out in the 1970s showed the possibility of obtaining separate concentrates of magnetite, ilmenite, and sulphides from these ores. The main component of the sulphide concentrates was pyrrhotite, which was definitely dominant among sulphides and contained, on average, approx. 0.16 wt% Co and 0.61 wt% Ni. These metals can be recovered from the sulphide concentrate through further technological processing [23]. It should be noted that the vanadium contents obtainable in the magnetite and ilmenite concentrates amounted to approximately 0.75 wt% and 0.2 wt% V\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{5}\), respectively [29]. The vanadium resources were roughly documented at ca. 4.1 million tons, with an average grade of 0.26-0.31% V\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{5}\). Our geochemical bulk-rock studies of samples from the Krzemianka and Udryn Fe-Ti-V deposits hosted by the Suwalki Anorthosite Massif showed that they were enriched in some elements relative to the respective average elemental contents in the earth's crust [36]. Among them there were also critical elements such as Co and V, and other accompanying metals, represented by Ni, Cu, and Cr, which show only about six times the enrichment in relation to their average content in the earth's crust. The resources of Co were roughly estimated to be greater than 150,000 tons and those of Zn, Ni, Cu, and Cr were up to several hundred thousand tons each [33; 59].  
It is important to note that, according to the latest estimates--which, however, were made almost two decades ago--the marginal V\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{5}\) value in economic ore should be 0.73% V\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{5}\). This means that, according to this criterion, the resources of the two deposits in the SAM would amount to only 1% of the previously documented resources [31].  
There are several known examples of this type of magmatic Fe-Ti-V oxide deposits in the world, located in Protterozoic anorthosite massits and at much more favorable depth conditions and without strong environmental restrictions. They have been discovered in outcrops or shallow sub-surface formations in Africa, Canada, the USA, and Scandinavia [60; 61; 62; 63; 64; 65]. The vanadium mean contents in these deposits are typically 0.1-1% V\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{5}\) and these vary, for example, in Canada's Charles and Buttercup deposits (0.1 and 0.67% V\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{5}\), respectively) [66]. Cobalt is also recognized as a strategic metal which is crucial for the world's development and transition to a low-carbon economy. Orthomagmatic Ni-Cu-Co sulphide deposits are one of the three main sources of cobalt supplied to the world economy [6]. However, the Fe-Ti-V magmatic deposits hosted by anorthosite complexes are impoverished in terms of their concentrations of Ni, Co, and Cu when compared with other orthomagmatic resources, despite the fact that in some cases they may contain local enrichments of these elements in sulphides and are strongly associated with magnetite-ilmenite oxide mineralization. In the SAM they are considered to be sub-economic because of the depth of the occurrence of ores; their insufficient metal contents, and environmental protection aspects.