The cobalt projectsįirst Cobalt's main focus is the Canadian refinery right now. The deliveries should start in 2022, and they should last for 5 years. This volume should be sufficient to fill 90% of the projected capacity of First Cobalt's refinery. The two companies will be delivering cobalt hydroxide containing 4,500 tonnes of cobalt per year. Meanwhile, on January 12, the company announced long-term cobalt hydroxide supply agreements with Glencore ( OTCPK:GLCNF) and China Molybdenum Co. First Cobalt will issue 27,420,000 new shares and 13,710,000 warrants with a strike price of C$0.5 and 2-year maturity. The Canadian government provided an interest-free loan of C$5 million via the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario and the Ontario government provided a C$5 million non-repayable grant via the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation.Īnother step on the way to funding the refinery was made on January 14, when C$8.5 million ($6.7 million) in equity financing was announced. In December, First Cobalt received C$10 million ($7.9 million) funding for the cobalt refinery expansion from the Canadian and Ontario governments. In recent weeks, First Cobalt reached several important milestones at the Canadian cobalt refinery. It means that First Cobalt's product should be much more attractive for customers who pay attention (or at least pretend to pay attention) to the protection of the environment. ![]() The company expects to produce 1.58 kg of CO 2 equivalent per one kg of cobalt sulphate, which compares very favorably to the benchmark Chinese refinery at Tongxiang, which produces 3.25 kg of CO 2 equivalent per one kg of cobalt sulphate. What is positive, despite similar operating costs, First Cobalt's refining process should be much more environmentally friendly compared to the Chinese refineries. This helped to improve the after-tax NPV(8%) to $177 million. However, after further adjustments, First Cobalt was able to decrease the cost estimate from $2.72 to $2.36/lb of contained cobalt. The after-tax IRR equaled 53% and the payback period was only 1.8 years. The after-tax NPV(8%) was estimated at $139 million by the May 2020 feasibility study. The operating costs are projected approximately at slightly less than $0.5/lb of cobalt sulphate ($2.36/lb of contained cobalt), which should be in line with the Chinese refiners. This equals approximately 5% of the current annual global cobalt sulphate production. The production capacity is projected at 25,000 tonnes (55.12 million lb) of cobalt sulphate (containing 5,000 tonnes of cobalt) per year. According to the recent news, the construction activities should start by the middle of this year, with production start-up expected later next year. It is fully permitted (only some amendments are needed) and First Cobalt intends to invest $60 million into its modernisation, expansion, and restart. It was built in 1996, but it has been on care and maintenance since 2015. The Canadian cobalt refineryįirst Cobalt's cobalt refinery is located in Ontario. This makes First Cobalt's assets even more valuable. As the importance of cobalt keeps on growing, such a huge concentration of the cobalt industry may cause serious trouble in the future, as could be seen in the case of rare-earth metals only several years ago. Moreover, China is the main cobalt refiner, as it is responsible for approximately 80% of global cobalt sulphates and cobalt oxides production. And approximately 40% of Congolese production capacity is controlled by China. This may be a huge advantage, given that right now, approximately 70% of all cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. ![]() Therefore, First Cobalt has the potential to become a purely North American battery-grade cobalt producer in the future. ![]() Moreover, it owns also a cobalt deposit in Idaho. It owns a fully permitted refinery that should become the only refinery in North America able to produce battery-grade cobalt. Among the most advanced potential cobalt producers with projects located in safe jurisdictions belong Jervois Mining ( OTCQX:JRVMF) (an article can be found here) and First Cobalt ( FTSSF).įirst Cobalt is a Canadian company with assets located in Canada and the USA. Unfortunately, not all of them can be successful. As cobalt is important for the production of batteries, batteries are needed for the production of electric vehicles and the development of renewable energy sources, and electric vehicles, and renewable energy sources are one of the hottest topics nowadays, the number of companies that want to enter the cobalt mining and processing business keeps on growing.
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