The precious metal sparking a new gold rush

Gold once enticed Prospectors into the American West - but now it's a cobalt that is roaming around.
Cobalt mining has not been in any kind of scale in the United States for decades.


But to a lesser extent, mining companies are claiming sites of Idaho, Montana and Alaska in search of silver blue minerals.

They are examples of growing interest in cobalt - a major component in lithium-ion batteries that gives power to electronic devices and electric cars.

The precious metal sparking a new gold rush

In the past, the cobalt supply was dependent on markets for copper and nickel, more valuable metals which are usually extracted with cobalt.

But George Heppel, senior analyst at research firm CRU Group in London says, but the prices of cobalt have increased by 8% to 10% over and above consumption, but as a by-product it has started to change.

About 300 companies around the world are now looking for cobalt deposits, CRU estimates

Mining veterans like Glencore are also promoting production in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where most of the world's cobalt is found.

In the US, limited cobalt production was first started in about four decades in 2014.

First Cobalt in Canada bought a mine in Idaho this spring and is expected to develop it in about three years.

Chief executive Trent Mail says, cobalt rather than copper or other metals, is my main focus.

"Minors like us have never really gone in search of cobalt," he says. "There are so many cobalt in the world. As a miner, we are behind."

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According to the CRU, cobalt consumption in 2011 is expected to be more than 122,000 tonnes, which was about 75,000 tonnes in 2011.

The price per pound (the measure used for cobalt) has risen above $ 40 this year, compared to about $ 20 in the beginning of 2011, and now is about $ 32.

Although increasing production is likely to help meet the demand in the next few years, analysts say that there is a reduction by 2022. Ficoa Grant Lieber of EcoBelt says, market mobility has helped boost confidence, Revived your Cobalt Khan plans, which was first introduced in the 1990s.

The firm, formerly known as Formation Metals, now hopes to start production by the end of next year.

Says MS Grant Ledier, "The basic principles for the cobalt market are so strong that they were never before." "We are very interested in financiers with potential partners and potential employees."

After cobalted ore mined using explosives, it is refined and the jet engine turns into metal, mixture or chemical concentration for use in products like drones and batteries.

More than 60% of the world's cobalt is mined in the DRC, while China is the world's leading producer of sophisticated cobalt.

But the demand for cobalt has increased, so there are worries about dependence on imports in the US.

In February, the US added cobalt to the list of 35 minerals to be considered important for the economy.

Active companies in the US say that they hope that their "made in the US" position will help in accelerating government clearance for their plans and will separate their product from imports.

They say that in DRC, the concerns about corruption and child labor in the mines have also put pressure on the buyers to find new sources of supply.

Missouri Cobalt chief executive Michael Holmon says, "There are some places where you can get ethical mining cobalt and we want to become one of them." "We want to think that it gives us an advantage."

The company is planning to start producing cobalt from the old lead mine in Missouri Madison County this summer. Its estimated 35 million pounds is recoverable cobalt, which makes it the largest reserve in North America.

However, where the realities of real, high-quality cobalt deposits are found globally, the realities of America should never be fully capable of importing cobalt.

In fact, analysts believe that mining firms have promoted their activity as an increase in the share of the DRC of global production.

To refine cobalt, China is also expected to be the world's premier player, even if new facilities are operating in Europe, North America and Asia.Caspar Roules, an analyst with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, says that American companies live in a small part of the market, but they can find that they are capable of reducing the premium value for their content.

"Every company in the supply chain is thinking of reducing its geopolitical risk, so I think that any project outside the DRC is in a strong position in that sense."

Challenges are important with the cost of setting up a mine running for hundreds of millions of dollars. The volatile price of cobalt presents another uncertainty.

Meanwhile, the growing cost of cobalt is pushing companies to find ways to minimize dependence on mining.

Gerebrand Cedar at the University of California, Berkeley is researching ways to make stable batteries, in which large quantities of cobalt are not required.

However, he says that deploying such technology on a scale - especially in cars - is at least five to ten years away. "I think a lot of cobalt will be used for the coming time."