Annual report including the list of directors, executive committee, finance committee and officers of the Vanadium Corporation of America, as well as the "Eighth Annual Report to Stockholders of Vanadium Corporation of America." The "Consolidated Balance Sheet" dated December 31, 1927 and "Consolidated Income and Earned Surplus" for the year 1927, both for the Vanadium Corporation of America and Subsidiary Companies, are also included. The last page consists of a letter to the president and board of directors of the Vanadium Corporation of America from the public accountants of Touche, Niven & Company vouching for the credibility of the financial statements contained therein. Vanadium, a malleable transition metal, was discovered in its natural state in Mexico by Spanish-Mexican scientist, engineer, and naturalist Andrés Manuel del Río (1764-1849) in 1801, though it was not isolated and recognized as an element until 1830. Following the discovery of a large deposit of vanadium in the Peruvian Andes in 1905, vanadium became commercially viable and significantly impacted the steel industry. In 1906, the American Vanadium Company (later the Vanadium Corporation of America) was organized to mine the new deposit, known as Mina Ragra, and use of vanadium to produce specialty steel alloys quickly became widespread, particularly in the burgeoning automobile industry.