Fortune Minerals : Cobalt News

North of 60 Mining News - September 15, 2022

By Shane Lasley Data Mine North Critical Minerals Alliances 2022 - September 12, 2022 Last updated 9/15/2022 at 3:33pm Adobe Stock ...

Traditionally a headline-grabbing metal due to the perceived human rights and monetary costs it adds to lithium-ion batteries and the electric vehicles they power, cobalt is being overshadowed by the enormous demand and price increases for the lithium and nickel that also go into the storage cells that deliver the "E" to the EV revolution…Cobalt, however, continues to be a vital ingredient that improves the energy density and longevity of EV batteries…"Future facing commodities like cobalt play a pivotal role in decarbonizing energy consumption and the electric vehicle revolution," said Ash Lazenby, U.S. cobalt marketer and trader at Glencore…More than 70% of the world's cobalt, however, comes from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country plagued with political and social issues. This puts the supply of this critical battery metal at risk of disruptions from civil unrest…As it turns out, natural disasters are also a risk tolled by placing this much global cobalt supply in one basket. In April, heavy flooding in South Africa washed away infrastructure that is used to deliver cobalt mined in DRC to ports and then onward to global markets…At the same time, governments and mining companies are advancing projects that will diversify the supply chain and lower the risk of supply disruptions for this critical battery metal…Eliminating cobalt from the lithium-ion batteries, however, is akin to developing a gluten-free pizza crust recipe - alternatives are available for those who absolutely cannot have gluten, but it is tough to develop a flourless recipe that has all the attributes that would make all pizza lovers want to eat the pie…While other transition metals such as manganese, nickel, iron, and titanium are potential substitutes in a lithium-ion battery recipe, none can match cobalt when it comes to delivering high-voltage, energy density, and the movement of lithium ions…"Moving away from high cobalt content means the new cathode materials must be optimized for all of these performance characteristics via subtle changes in the arrangement of the transition metals and their relative compositions," the U.S. Department of Energy explains…While government and industry efforts are expected to lower the percentage of cobalt going into each battery, this will not offset the massive volume of batteries to be produced over the coming years and decades. This has EV manufacturers, even those looking to eliminate cobalt from batteries altogether, racing to the mines to ensure they have the socially and environmentally responsible supplies of this battery metal…Tesla, General Motors, and BMW are among the automakers that have cut deals for responsibly-sourced cobalt for the batteries going into their EVS…One of the most intriguing of these deposits is at Fortune Minerals Ltd.'s NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in Northwest Territories…According to a 2020 plan, a mine at NICO and an associated refinery would produce an average of 1,800 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt sulfate; 1,700 metric tons of bismuth; 300 metric tons of copper; and 47,000 oz of gold annually over the first 14 years of mining…In January, Fortune entered into a deal to acquire a former steel fabrication plant in Alberta to build a refinery to process concentrates produced at NICO…"Cobalt, lithium and nickel are all minerals with huge demand in the modern world. Fortune's new refinery is exactly the type of job creating, diversifying investment we envisioned with our mineral strategy and action plan," said Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.