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Trav.

Trav.

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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
 
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
Click to expand...

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....

Cobalt Oct 2018.png
 
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.

upload_2018-10-28_18-29-1.png

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)
upload_2018-10-28_18-35-30.png

upload_2018-10-28_18-41-28.png
 
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.

….

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
Click to expand...
Excellent posting : content, relevance and quality.
 
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.​
 
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

upload_2019-1-18_18-34-20.png

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 :rolleyes:
 
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.

upload_2019-3-31_6-43-57.png
 
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
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.
upload_2019-5-25_7-52-14.png
 
Cobalt seems to be having a little revival - time to dig up some of those cobalt stock lists

Cobalt - Price - Chart - Historical Data - News

Cobalt decreased 2,510 USD/T or 8.62% since the beginning of 2024, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Cobalt - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on July of 2024.
tradingeconomics.com tradingeconomics.com

1612568898832.png
 
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 :oops:

1612571607665.png

credit to
 
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?


www.nytimes.com

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 www.nytimes.com
 
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?
Click to expand...

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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