# Cobalt



## Trav. (28 October 2018)

I have invested in 2 companies recently in the cobalt sector and have been reading various information which has not been sinking in to much, so i decided to write some of this information down and hopefully we can build on the information below.

I claim no expertise in this field but I have worked at a few nickel mines and a couple of these extracted the cobalt as a by product.  

….

Cobalt is recognised as an important technology enabling metal where energy storage, high temperature resilience, hardness, process efficiency and environmental benefits are required

General points
Normally associated as a by product of copper or nickel mining operations
Approximately 58% of the world cobalt production comes from copper ores
Approximately 55% of the global supply originates from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
Global reserves
Africa 50%
Australasia 24%
America's 10%
Rest of the World 13%



Uses
Batteries - Lithium-ion have approx 10-20% Cobalt
Magnets - used in wind turbines, hard disk drives, motors, sensors, actuators, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Inks and pigments - Glass, porcelain, ceramics, paints, inks and enamelware
Super Alloys - used in aerospace, prosthetics, cutting tools, automotives and industrial equipment
Electronics - used in printing circuit board materials (PCB).


Price Factors - Cobalt is mostly produced as a by product of either copper or nickel. This leads to a supply, in which the price of cobalt is influenced by the supplies of nickel and copper – instead of that of cobalt. Therefore, speculations about more productions of nickel and copper could lead speculators to believe that cobalt supplies would increase, which ends up driving market prices low.

Investing considerations
Low capex/simple processing routes

Sulphide deposits - Beneficiation, roasting, smelting - simpler and preferred​
Laterite ores - High Pressure Acid Leaching - notoriously difficult and expensive to process.​
Grade and primary cobalt – Higher grade is preferable and ideally a primary Cobalt deposit – 0.1 - 0.4%
Location – sovereign risk and ethical mining are significant considerations when it comes to cobalt. – DRC are out of favour.


Cobalt stocks on the ASX
Aeon Metals (ASX: AML)
Anson Resources (ASX: ASN)
Archer Exploration (ASX: AXE)
Ardea Resources (ASX: ARL) * holding
Artemis Resources (ASX: ARV)
Auroch Minerals (ASX: AOU)
Aus Tin Mining (ASX: ANW)
Australian Mines (ASX: AUZ)
Barra Resources (ASX: BAR)
Berkut Minerals (ASX: BMT)
Blackstone Minerals (ASX: BSX)
Blina Minerals (ASX: BDI)
Cape Lambert Resources (ASX: CFE)
Castillo Copper (ASX: CCZ)
Celsius Resources (ASX: CLA) * holding
Clean TeQ (ASX: CLQ)
Cobalt Blue Holdings (ASX: COB)
Collerina Cobalt (ASX: CLL)
Conico (ASX: CNJ)
Corazon Mining (ASX: CZN)
Cougar Metals (ASX: CGM)
European Cobalt (ASX: EUC)
FE Limited (ASX: FEL)
First Cobalt (ASX: FCC)
Golden Deeps (ASX: GED)
GME Resources (ASX: GME)
Hammer Metals (ASX: HMX)
Havilah Resources (ASX: HAV)
Jervois Mining (ASX: JRV)
Longford Resources (ASX: LFR)
Metalicity (ASX: MCT)
Meteoric Resources (ASX: MEI)
Marquee Resources (ASX: MQR)
MetalsTech (ASX: MTC)
Northern Cobalt (ASX: N27)
Nzuri Copper (ASX: NZC)
Pioneer Resources (ASX: PIO)
Platina Resources (ASX: PGM)
Riedel Resources (ASX: RIE)
Red Mountain Mining (ASX: RMX)
St George Mining (ASX: SGQ)
Trek Metals (ASX: TKM)
Victory Mines (ASX: VIC)
Winmar Resources (ASX: WFE)


Sources from www include smallcaps.com.au, cobaltinstitute.org


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## Ann (28 October 2018)

Trav. said:


> I have invested in 2 companies recently in the cobalt sector and have been reading various information which has not been sinking in to much, so i decided to write some of this information down and hopefully we can build on the information below.
> 
> I claim no expertise in this field but I have worked at a few nickel mines and a couple of these extracted the cobalt as a by product.
> g




G'day Trav,

A quick glance at the chart for the price of Cobalt is not painting a great picture, it is in decline. Looking at ARL's chart it is also telling me the same story, along with CLA. 

As I understand 94% of Cobalt comes as a by-product of Copper and Nickel mining operations. It appears a while back there was a lot of hype about Cobalt and EV batteries which subjected it to speculation and to an inflated price partially caused by speculators and hedge funds buying it up and wharehousing it for future sale.

It is always a good idea before buying into a stock to see which direction the price is going by looking at a chart. It will only take a moment of your time to see if the price is going up or down. As you can imagine, a price falling is not the best way to buy into a stock until the decline stops and it begins to rise again.

As it is a by-product of Copper production then you will find the big players in Copper will be the biggest produces BHP and RIO if and when the price takes off, leaving the small players in the dust.  Clive Palmer owns the Cobalt refinery in Yabulu, Qld. It is currently in voluntary administration. 
This is the current 12 month chart for the price of Cobalt....


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## Trav. (28 October 2018)

Hi Ann,

Yes the chart is not looking good for Cobalt and the sector is suffering a bit.

With the DRC under the microscope with child labour and political change (increase in mining royalties and taxes) I think that business will be looking at alternate suppliers. 

Electric Vehicles (EV's) consume a significant amount of cobalt but are decreasing this amount as shown below.




but with the volume of EV's planned to be produced the demand for cobalt should remain.


_*'Benchmark* estimates that cobalt’s use lithium ion batteries will triple between now and 2026 as a wave of EV demand engulfs the industry. Whilst efforts are being made to reduce cobalt dependency, the order of magnitude of growth sales will far outweigh this.

To put this into a very short term context, Tesla expects to increase its vehicle production by 150% between now and June 2018 – and the biggest Model 3 increases are yet to come. *Benchmark* expects output to sharply rise from September onwards.'_


*Worldwide mine production of cobalt from 2008 to 2017 (in metric tons)*


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## noirua (31 October 2018)




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## Miner (4 November 2018)

Trav. said:


> I have invested in 2 companies recently in the cobalt sector and have been reading various information which has not been sinking in to much, so i decided to write some of this information down and hopefully we can build on the information below.
> 
> I claim no expertise in this field but I have worked at a few nickel mines and a couple of these extracted the cobalt as a by product.
> 
> ...



Excellent posting : content, relevance and quality.


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## Trav. (10 November 2018)

_*Glencore ceases cobalt sales from DRC mine, triggers cobalt price surge*_

https://smallcaps.com.au/glencore-ceases-cobalt-sales-drc-mine-triggers-price-surge/

Extract

_News that Glencore has temporarily suspended sales from its Kamoto cobalt project in the Democratic Republic of Congo has triggered a sudden price surge for cobalt, with the mineral’s value soaring more than 12% within three days.

Earlier this week, Glencore’s 86%-owned subsidiary Katanga Mining reported sales and exports had halted at the mine as a result of the discovery of uranium.

According to Katanga, uranium levels had been found to exceed the “acceptable limit allowed” for its cobalt to be exported through Africa’s primary ports.

To-date, Katanga revealed the presence of uranium had prevented 1,472 tonnes of cobalt from being exported.

The news rocked the global cobalt market and pushed the commodity’s price from under US$45 per tonne to US$52/t within days._​


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## Trav. (13 November 2018)

Some informative slides from the CLA AGM presentation that are relevant to the Cobalt market and ASX companies.

https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20181113/pdf/4407mvfrqrltzc.pdf


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## Trav. (18 January 2019)

I thought that I should update the Cobalt chart as Ann posted one earlier in the thread (post #2) and things are going bad to worse




I thought that the election in the DRC and Glencore ceasing exports from their Katanga mine due to high levels of uranium would have driven the price higher, but no signs of that happening at the moment. Maybe the price will run later in the year


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## Trav. (31 March 2019)

Another chart painting a woeful picture for Cobalt......the electric vehicle revolution may be not taking off as fast as expected or maybe the Chinese are no longer stockpiling Cobalt for the battery factories. Celsius Resources (CLA) have shelved their Opuwo Project due to Cobalt prices. So no quick gains to be made in this area but definitely worth looking at with longer term investment view.


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## noirua (31 March 2019)

Trav. said:


> Another chart painting a woeful picture for Cobalt......the electric vehicle revolution may be not taking off as fast as expected or maybe the Chinese are no longer stockpiling Cobalt for the battery factories. Celsius Resources (CLA) have shelved their Opuwo Project due to Cobalt prices. So no quick gains to be made in this area but definitely worth looking at with longer term investment view.
> 
> View attachment 93434




The difficult time for cobalt may not abate very soon. Lots of copper/cobalt in up and coming mines in DRC.  Glencore has hit a problem near Kolwezi with their latest copper cobalt mine with too higher amount of Uranium found in their exports.


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## Trav. (25 May 2019)

Cobalt price appears to have stabilised in the $15 range in the last month. The DRC continues to be pretty unstable with the government trying to encourage companies to refine inside DRC instead of exporting concentrate. Hopefully the price of Cobalt rises later in the year and a few companies will get a nice kick in share price.


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## PatrickBateman62 (17 November 2019)

The increasing demand for electric vehicles (EV) has presented investors with an exciting investment opportunity. If you are interested in understanding cobalt's part in this evolutionary trend and the upside potential in cobalt stocks, then this is an article for you

https://youth-investment-group.com/...ectric-cars-drives-potential-in-cobolt-stock/


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## Trav. (6 February 2021)

Cobalt seems to be having a little revival - time to dig up some of those cobalt stock lists






						Cobalt - 2022 Data - 2010-2021 Historical - 2023 Forecast - Price - Quote - Chart
					

Cobalt decreased 18,545 USD/MT or 26.31% since the beginning of 2022, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Historically, Cobalt reached an all time high of 95250.00 in March of 2018.




					tradingeconomics.com


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## Dona Ferentes (6 February 2021)

Trav. said:


> Cobalt seems to be having a little revival - time to dig up some of those cobalt stock lists



My watchlist, when the "excitement" was peaking had more than half a dozen companies. Now Cobalt stocks down to three.


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## Trav. (6 February 2021)

Well a quick search on twitter and I have added the following to my AmiBroker Watch List

CLA highlighted as that is the sucker that got me into trouble chasing the speccies....well maybe that was me 




credit to


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## Dona Ferentes (6 February 2021)

This is all I've got left with.


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## Trav. (7 February 2021)

The below article mentions some Canadian companies but applicable to all Cobalt / Lithium stocks









						Rising Lithium, Cobalt Prices Provide Valuation Support For Players In EV Battery Material Space
					

During Tesla’s January 27th earnings call with investors, CEO Elon Musk stated that the company does not have enough battery




					thedeepdive.ca


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## Ann (30 November 2021)

Interesting article in the NYT today. Will it mean a bigger hike in cobalt prices and more business for cobalt in Australia or will they look for an alternative to cobalt for batteries?










						Hunt for the ‘Blood Diamond of Batteries’ Impedes Green Energy Push (Published 2021)
					

Dangerous mining conditions plague Congo, home to the world’s largest supply of cobalt, a key ingredient in electric cars. A leadership battle threatens reforms.




					www.nytimes.com


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## Sean K (30 November 2021)

Ann said:


> Interesting article in the NYT today. Will it mean a bigger hike in cobalt prices and more business for cobalt in Australia or will they look for an alternative to cobalt for batteries?




Is there an alternative? I did a google, and the first hits look like there are. Tried to upload a screen shot but there's a bug in Joe's matrix.


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## Ann (30 November 2021)

Sean K said:


> Is there an alternative? I did a google, and the first hits look like there are. Tried to upload a screen shot but there's a bug in Joe's matrix.






			https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c04026


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## Ann (30 November 2021)

This may be of interest from ATC....


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## Sean K (30 November 2021)

Ann said:


> https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c04026




The new Tesla batteries won't have it. Or Nickel. eeeek, I better sell my Ni play.


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## Craton (9 May 2022)

I found this disturbing report on The Congo's blood cobalt mines and wasn't surprised to find the heavy Chinese involvement.


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## qldfrog (9 May 2022)

Craton said:


> I found this disturbing report on The Congo's blood cobalt mines and wasn't surprised to find the heavy Chinese involvement.




Well these are the equivalent of squatters: the min8ng companies be they Chinese or not, have no choice
If they fight back, they are horrible racist colonialists, and if they let trespassings happen:
 theirs ABC will cry on the absence of H&S, of the thousands killed every year etc etc and how LGBTQ are discriminated against...
So should we stop all mining in countries where rule of law is absent


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## Craton (10 May 2022)

qldfrog said:


> Well these are the equivalent of squatters: the min8ng companies be they Chinese or not, have no choice
> If they fight back, they are horrible racist colonialists, and if they let trespassings happen:
> theirs ABC will cry on the absence of H&S, of the thousands killed every year etc etc and how LGBTQ are discriminated against...



More like trespassers IMHO, in the footage didn't see any fencing or signage around the mine, only at the admin office/s.


qldfrog said:


> So should we stop all mining in countries where rule of law is absent



Huh? That does not compute but taken literally, yes.


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## qldfrog (10 May 2022)

Craton said:


> More like trespassers IMHO, in the footage didn't see any fencing or signage around the mine, only at the admin office/s.
> 
> Huh? That does not compute but taken literally, yes.



It is not only Cobalt, this happens for coal in India, gold in Africa and South America.
They are de facto parasites on tbe back of main mining companies.
1: these guys are so poor it's their survival so can not blame the individuals
2 the leased mining holders have no choice but let this go.
You can stop it:
Fence and prevent access and let these guys starve
Close the mine...and let these guys starve
Get rid of the local government so that the mine rents and brides go to the people...called colonialism 70y ago .bringing civilisation and rule of law...
Yeap will not happen,
and not sure Australia is such a great model considering our gov history with big mining companies...
So not exactly joining the ABC outrage.
Cobalt is not the issue,the local gov is.
PS cobalt is produced in quantity near us: New Caledonia nickel mines also produce a lot of cobalt as a side target


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