Craton
Mostly passive, contrarian.
- Joined
- 6 February 2013
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Broken Hill Cobalt Project
This project is unique, globally, for very important reasons. We have an enormous deposit of cobalt in pyrite at Broken Hill, which is extremely rare, anywhere in the world. What’s more, Cobalt Blue has created the world’s first process that can extract the cobalt and create a commercial, battery-ready product on site.
The ultimate prize is the cobalt that will be extracted from the rock. For decades unloved, cobalt is now at the heart of the green economy. It is an essential component of batteries in phones, laptops and electric cars, which are now the biggest source of demand. The authors of an imf paper published last year predicted that consumption of cobalt could increase six-fold by 2050
How the world depends on small cobalt miners
The metal is key to the global energy transition. But its artisanal market is broken
Part of the reason why the lot of small-scale miners has not improved is because of the way they are pushed to the margins of the industry. In Congo artisanal mining is meant to be confined to dedicated sites. In practice, it is tacitly allowed on parts of the huge industrial mines in Kolwezi. Though some sites have been dug for decades, miners are vulnerable. In 2019 the army evicted 5,000-8,000 miners from the Tenke Fungurume Mine which is owned by China Molybdenum. Still, people returned to the mine, roughly 100km from Kolwezi, even in the face of violence. “Security is chasing us, beating us, breaking our basins,” says Generose Yandaya, who washes rocks to support her orphaned grandchildren. “I want them to go to school. The problem is there is no money and mining is the only job.”
Cobalt Blue is big news in the cobalt world – it is the only large-scale, non-African, greenfield (that is, new) primary cobalt project in the world. In fact, the company describes itself as “the only pure-play cobalt producer in the listed world,” because virtually every other listed cobalt company produces cobalt as a by-product of nickel or copper mining. Cobalt Blue’s Broken Hill Cobalt Project (BHCP) will have cobalt as its only product.
The BHCP has been granted Major Project Status from the federal government. If everything goes according to plan, the BHCP could come onstream in 2025, and produce more than 3,500 tonnes of cobalt metal a year, over 20 years. BHCP has a projected all-in sustaining cost an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) – a figure that incorporates not only the “cash cost” of production but all the costs that allow production to be sustained – of US$12 a pound. At present cobalt prices at more than $US37 a pound, which would give the project very healthy margins – in fact, it would make money at historically low cobalt prices.
This year, Cobalt Blue is focusing on running its demonstration plant and delivering large-scale samples to potential offtake partners. It says its potential customers want to engage in longer-duration offtake agreements of up to about eight years, to support their EV production runs. COB says “non-African sustainably sourced cobalt” is becoming a premium material, as EV makers react to their consumer and legislative requirements, and seek to influence upstream sourcing. The company hopes to finalise all project approvals and a bankable feasibility study (BFS will be finalised by the end of this year, ready for a final investment decision (FID) on the project by the end of the first quarter of 2023.)
COB has doubled in a year, and the only analyst following the stock sees it as having run past fair value. But the BHCP is a very interesting project.
In the Search function, did you use the "Search titles only" option?Thanks for moving. I did a search for Cobalt and COB and nothing came up.
In the Search function, did you use the "Search titles only" option?
Thanks to @Joe Blow for reminding me of this tip some time ago. Typing COB and selecting the Search titles only option brings up:
COB - Cobalt Blue Holdings
Demonstration Plant: Concentrator Circuit Update - Phase One Complete
The concentrator circuit has now completed testwork on 500 t of ore with a further 2,500 – 3,000 t of ore to be finalised shortly.
The circuit has upgraded cobalt in ore to ~4,300 ppm in concentrate (with 75% mass rejection) – representing an ~5x upgrade. The Kiln circuit has now been commissioned, with leach and MHP production circuits to follow shortly.
well and truly established ... 20 per cent today, no newsCOB trying to put in a bottom.
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