Global Need for Energy Storage Fuels First Cobalt
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- Inferred mineral resource estimate at flagship Iron Creek Cobalt Project includes 26.9 million tonnes grading 0.11 percent cobalt equivalent
- Company working to extend the strike length and down dip depth by at least double current measures
- Electric vehicle (EV) revolution reveals dramatic increase in demand for cobalt, a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries
- High voltage battery market projected to grow to $89.1 billion by 2025 from $8.9 billion in 2018 at CAGR of 38.95 percent
First Cobalt Corp. (TSX.V: FCC) (OTCQX: FTSSF) (ASX: FCC), a North American pure-play cobalt company whose flagship asset is the Iron Creek Cobalt Project located in Idaho, has filed its first NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the project and is already anticipating an updated resource estimate in early 2019. In a recently released corporate video, members of the company’s senior leadership team offered a compelling discussion defining the characteristics that make Iron Creek a unique cobalt asset (http://nnw.fm/67M0o).
Cobalt has become a critically important metal because of its use as a component in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which are used in cars, buses, smartphones and a host of other devices. Cobalt enables rechargeable batteries to stock energy without overheating. First Cobalt’s progress at Iron Creek is tangible as crews continue exploratory drilling. Significant infrastructure is in place at the site to support multiple drills, including 600 meters of underground development and an all-weather road connecting the project to a state highway. The Iron Creek property consists of patented mining claims surrounded by unpatented mining claims covering an area of 1,698 acres.
First Cobalt has identified two primary zones of mineral potential at its Iron Creek Cobalt Project, including the Waite and No Name zones, with inferred mineral resources of 26.9 million metric tons grading 0.11 percent cobalt equivalent. The zones comprise more than 500 meters (1,640.4 feet) of known strike length and dip depth of over 150 meters (492.1 feet) for the inferred resource statement, which are now being doubled through additional drilling along a 1,000-meter (3,280.8-foot) strike with testing of down dip extensions in known cobalt-copper zones to more than 300 meters (984.3 feet) below the surface, an earlier press release states (http://nnw.fm/8MoW9). Three drill rigs have been working to spur completion of an updated resource estimate by early 2019.
Demand for cobalt continues to rise as the world’s nations strive to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and move more decisively toward electrification of transportation. Cobalt demand in the electric vehicle (EV) industry is expected to be between 10 and 25 times higher than current levels by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency’s Global Electric Vehicles Outlook (http://nnw.fm/eNt9r). The number of electric and plug-in hybrid cars on the world’s roads exceeded three million in 2017, marking a 54 percent increase when compared with 2016, per IEA data. MarketsandMarkets projects that the global high voltage battery market will grow from $8.9 billion in 2018 to nearly $90 billion by 2025, achieving a compound annual growth rate of nearly 39 percent, as Digital Journal reports (http://nnw.fm/6uRmD).
As a North American pure-play cobalt company whose flagship asset is the Iron Creek Cobalt Project in Idaho, which has Inferred Mineral Resources of 26.9 million tonnes grading 0.11 percent cobalt equivalent, First Cobalt is focused on building a North American cobalt supply chain. The company’s other assets include 50 past-producing mines in the Canadian Cobalt Camp and the only permitted cobalt refinery in North America capable of producing battery materials.
For more information, visit the company’s website at http://nnw.fm/FTSSF
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