| September 14, 2007 More uses for Cobalt - Platinum Falls as Daihatsu Develops Fuel Cell Without Platinum Publisher: Bloomberg Author: Marianne Stigset | |
| Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Platinum fell in London after Daihatsu Motor Co. said it developed a new fuel cell that doesn't use the precious metal, prompting speculation demand may decline from carmakers, the biggest consumers. Daihatsu, Japan's largest minicar maker, today said it is seeking to replace platinum with cobalt and nickel. A typical fuel cell for a car uses 200 grams, or more than six ounces, of platinum, the company said. The announcement ''triggered some reactionary selling,'' said Rory McVeigh, a senior platinum trader at Commerzbank AG in Luxembourg. Still, ''I can't see myself driving a fuel-cell car for another 20 years.'' Platinum for immediate delivery fell $7, or 0.5 percent, to $1,289 an ounce as of 11:14 a.m. in London. Carmakers used about 4.2 million ounces of the metal last year in autocatalysts, equal to 62 percent of total demand, according to London-based metals trader Johnson Matthey Plc. Palladium, also used by carmakers, slid $2.25, or 0.7 percent, to $330.50 an ounce. To contact the reporter on this story: Marianne Stigset in London at mstigset@bloomberg.net -END- | |
| September 05, 2007 Cobalt investment contract launched by Credit Suisse Publisher: mineweb.com Author: Daniel Magnowski | |
| LONDON (Reuters) - Credit Suisse has opened a market in hi-tech metal cobalt to investors seeking a commodity contract that won't be buffeted by turbulence in other financial markets, the bank said on Tuesday. Cobalt, a metal mined in Africa, Russia, Cuba and Australia, and used in batteries and aircraft engines, is not traded on an exchange, so until now the only way to invest in it has been to buy the metal and store it -- often not an option for hedge funds. But the new financially-settled contract launched in August by Credit Suisse makes it possible to buy cobalt without ever taking delivery of the metal, the bank told Reuters in an interview. "It works likes other commodity contracts. For example, if you buy Dec 07 cobalt today at a fixed price of $24.80 and come December, the average for the month prices out at $30.00, then you net receive $5.20. It is purely cash settled," said Lorcan Cleary, Vice President in the commodities group at the bank. Since cobalt is not traded on any of the world's metal exchanges, the contract is priced on data published by industry journal Metal Bulletin. "We have taken the proactive step of providing access to a market in the absence of an exchange," Cleary said. A cobalt contract makes sense now because speculators are looking for new products in which to invest after several years of pumping money into commodities. While exchange-traded commodities such as copper and gold fell victim to the recent global financial turmoil that began with the collapse in the sub-prime mortgage sector in the United States, off-exchange metal cobalt is detached from shockwaves in other markets. "One of the attractions of the 'new' commodity markets, such as cobalt, is that they avoid the short-term correlation that the more commonly financially-traded commodity markets are currently seeing," said Kamal Naqvi, Head of Hedge Fund Coverage in the Commodities group at Credit Suisse. "Clients are seeing such markets as cobalt and coal as purer commodity plays." Among commodities, cobalt's fundamentals are especially attractive, Credit Suisse believes. The bank has forecast that cobalt prices could spike to $40 per lb by the end of this year. High-grade cobalt now trades around $27 per lb, up 50 percent since September 2006 on strong industrial demand and tight supply. "We expect the cobalt market to remain in deficit until the end of 2008, as supply struggles to keep up with strong demand," the bank said in a research report earlier this year. The fact that around half the world's cobalt reserves are in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has a history of extreme instability, is a key risk to supply. "Going forward, the cobalt market could be further squeezed by supply disruptions, such as rising cost, declining ore grades, potential labour strikes, a lack of infrastructure support and political unrest in the DRC," the report said. GLENCORE ALLIANCE Credit Suisse can access a ready source of the metal thanks to its alliance with Glencore. Through its shareholding in mining firm Xstrata and deals with other producers, this Swiss-based commodities trader has sales rights to a large chunk of the world's cobalt. "The challenge for new commodity products is creating and maintaining liquidity. Through our trading alliance with Glencore, Credit Suisse is the only bank that is able to consistently source such liquidity in many of these markets," Naqvi said. "We have plans to further extend the list of tradable commodity products going forward." Among other commodities traded by Glencore are coal, and steelmaking additive vanadium, which along with cobalt is one of a group of substances collectively known as "minor metals". Credit Suisse's move into cobalt comes at a time when several commodities trading firms are trying to break into minor metals, attracted by an outlook of rising demand and higher prices. The global trend towards greater use of high-tech products such as laptop computers, flat screen televisions and catalytic converters, all of which contain minor metals, will raise the cost of these metals, merchants believe. -END- | |
| September 05, 2007 Thousands Flee Homes Amidst Renewed Violence in DRC Publisher: diamonds.net News Author: Avi Krawitz | |
| RAPAPORT... Thousands have fled their homes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) eastern province of North Kivu, in the wake of renewed fighting between government troops, renegade troops, and rebel groups, a UN spokesman reported at a September 4, 2007 press briefing in Geneva. The clashes have raised concerns the mineral-rich nation may fall back into civil war, which plagued the country during the 1990s leaving an estimated 4 million people dead. In 2006, the DRC produced 28.99 million carats of diamonds, accounting for 16 percent of the global total. "We fear that the pursuit of a military solution to the problems in North Kivu would further worsen the province's humanitarian crisis through the potential displacement of hundreds of thousands of additional Congolese civilians," said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR.) Following clashes between supporters of General Nkunda and regular FARDC forces (the DRC's national armed forces) the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUC, sent in 200 reinforcement troops to the area and stepped up diplomatic pressures in a bid to restore calm. Redmond reported that while many of the internally displaced persons (IDP) had not witnessed direct fighting, they left their homes fearing the ongoing military buildup in the area. "Some of the IDPs have reported cases of rape and killings of civilians by armed men," he added. At a press briefing earlier in the week, UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis warned that "with heightened tensions and the build-up of military forces, the situation risks turning into a humanitarian and human rights disaster." More than 20 makeshift camps for internally displaced persons have emerged in North Kivu since December as the capacity of local host families to absorb the new arrivals has been overwhelmed, UNHCR reported. UNHCR is considering the possibility of setting up a new displacement site near Mugunga, which currently hosts as many as 18,000 displaced people. UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, expressed his concern over the clashes calling on "the government of the DRC and all local stakeholders to persevere in their efforts to bring about a peaceful solution." The Secretary-General is also very concerned by the impact of the fighting on local populations and calls on all parties to ensure the protection of the vulnerable. | |
| September 05, 2007 United Nations Concerned Violent Outbreaks in DRC Could Signal War Publisher: diamondintelligence.com Author: Staff Writer | |
| The United Nations has responded to increased tensions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by sending troops and stepping up diplomatic pressure on each of the opposing factions. Violent outbreaks in the country's eastern region have forced thousands from their homes as they attempt to flee the fighting. The worst of the clashes have so far occurred in the town of Katale in the Masisi district of North Kivu province, according to UN News Service. In response, the UN has sent 200 reinforcement troops from MONUC, the UN mission in DRC. Former Gen. Laurent Nkunda and his forces are clashing with government over what he believes are measures to protect his own minority ethnic Tutsi population in North and South Kivu provinces from local Rwandan Hutu fighters. Nkunda is reportedly clashing with the government in retaliation against the Kinshasa government's alleged support for Hutu fighters. The eastern region of Congo is no stranger to conflict: between 1998 to 2002 the area was ravaged by fighting between local militias, renegade soldiers and the army until a peace agreement was signed between the rebel factions that had been holding nominal control. The UN reported that more than 650,000 people are now internally displaced in the North Kivu area. Tens of thousands have also fled to the neighboring Uganda. The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the world's largest diamond-producing countries by volume (in carats). In 2006, the DRC contributed 17 percent out of the total 175,538,127 produced globally. -END- | |
| September 05, 2007 Mystery disease ravages DRC Publisher: afrol News Author: Staff Writer | |
| afrol News, 5 September - A reported outbreak of a mysterious disease has killed more than 60 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), health officials confirmed. All those people, including health workers who had contact with the deaths had also succumbed to the disease. The origin of the disease with high mortality rate is yet to be established. It has been reported in the Kasai-Occidental. Its outbreak followed the high number of deaths among pigs and chickens in the area's rural villages three months back. Congolese health authorities could not tell the exact number of the cases or its death toll. But majority of the cases cause fever, headache, diarrhoea or colicky abdominal pain, and vomiting. More than 50% of the children under 10 years have been affected by the outbreak. Health experts in Congo who team up with their colleagues from World Health Organisation (WHO) have been investigating the outbreak in the reported areas where they have taken clinical samples for laboratory testing. Besides, the world health body is mobilising support for epidemiological investigation and logistics. Measures to improve hygiene, safe water supply, safe burial practices and effective infection control have since been under way. The lack of masks for hospital workers has exposed them to the disease. A local nurse who was taking care of infected patients in a local hospital died of the mysterious outbreak. Some experts linked the outbreak to hemorrhagic fever which might have been transmitted during the process of washing death bodies and funerals because many people, including a local chief, who attended a recent funeral died from fever and dehydration. However, medical experts warned that they are still investigating the disease. As such, it will be too early to connect the new outbreak to hemorrhagic fever. -End- | |
| August 31, 2007 Congolese government deals blow to Katanga's hostile suitor Publisher: Mining Reporter Author: Andy Hoffman | |
| A hostile takeover offer for Katanga Mining Ltd. was thrown into disarray just a day after it was launched when the bidder was stripped of a key mining licence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), sending the company's shares into a tailspin. The public prosecutor for the DRC said it is revoking and cancelling Central African Mining & Exploration Co.'s (CAMEC) mining licence for an area known as C19 because of "serious irregularities" in the original issuing process. "The central conclusion is that there was not a valid contract in the first place. It did not go through the expected process for completing a valid contract," Roger Carroll, a spokesman for the DRC government, said in an interview. CAMEC, which formally tabled an all-stock bid for Katanga on Wednesday, saw its shares plunge nearly 17 per cent in London yesterday to 39.75 pence, further reducing the value of its all-stock offer to roughly $14.40 (Canadian) per Katanga share compared with Katanga's closing price of $19.80 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. At one point in the trading session CAMEC shares were down as much as 39 per cent. Katanga, which is developing the massive Kamoto copper and cobalt complex in the DRC, has been working feverishly to fend off the CAMEC bid. It has undertaken an auction process that has attracted several interested parties who have signed confidentiality agreements giving them access to financial data. Nikanor PLC and Anglo-American PLC are understood to be among the possible bidders. However, the devastating development for CAMEC could cool the potential suitors' interest in tabling a white knight offer for Katanga, industry sources said, or at least slow down the proceedings. One source close to the process said CAMEC's loss of its mining licence was a "double edged sword" that could scare off rival bids. At the very least, Katanga's need to quickly find an alternative to the CAMEC bid has diminished. "Clearly, the urgency wanes a bit," the source said. George Topping, an analyst at Blackmont Capital in Toronto, said even without the CAMEC offer, Katanga is likely to attract other bidders, but only those willing to take on the risk of mining in the DRC, which is still struggling to achieve political stability. "This is a highly desirable asset, it's a pity it's in the Congo," Mr. Topping said. The DRC has seen a rush of foreign mining firms flock to the mineral rich country following the end of a devastating civil war in 2004 and democratic elections in November. It is reviewing about 70 mining licences (including Katanga's), many of which were granted during the conflict or in its chaotic aftermath. CAMEC's review was accelerated because of the Katanga bid, which some government officials opposed. "Because there was a civil war going on, some of the people who purported to sign for the [government] had no authority to do so. Others might have had the authority but didn't have the expertise needed at hand. If you've got rockets firing at you there aren't many lawyers sitting around and pouring over the documents," Mr. Carroll said. CAMEC executives were unavailable for comment, but in a statement the company said they believe there is no basis for the permit revocation. "There is no legal basis for the removal of any of our licences in the DRC. This is clearly an attempt to destabilize CAMEC's share price in relation to our offer for Katanga," stated Andrew Groves, CAMEC's chief executive officer. The DRC holds roughly one-third of the world's cobalt reserves and 10 per cent of its copper reserves. Firms such as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and its Canadian partner Lundin Mining Corp.,, as well as TSX-listed Anvil Mining Corp., are facing reviews of their mining licences. Despite its metal resources, the average citizen's income is less than a dollar a day. Government revenues for mining totalled just $32-million (U.S.) last year, Mr. Carroll said. Katanga Mining Ltd. Close: $19.80, down 73¢ -END- | |
| August 30, 2007 Cobalt: Lithium-Based and Nickel-Based Rechargeable Batteries Publisher: ResourceInvestor.com Author: Jack Lifton | |
| DETROIT (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Natural resource investors should pay close attention to a story in today's Toronto Star, which certainly got the attention of the purchasing departments at all of America's - and Japan's - OEM automobile manufacturers, as well as at the myriad of mostly small companies working on the development and/or production of both lithium-ion battery technology for future use and of the nickel metal hydride batteries used currently in vehicular power trains. Last week I wrote about the fact that the world's largest producer of lithium and of lithium-based chemicals had convinced me that there is not now and will not be a lithium shortage even if hybrid (HEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and all-electric vehicle (EV) production should ramp up to meet the most optimistic projections during the next 5 to 10 years and all use some derivative form of today's lithium-ion technology based battery for propulsion purposes. But there is another metal, which at the moment is a critical material, one without which the current designs of lithium-ion technology batteries cannot be built: cobalt. I'll explain why this is so in another moment. As it happens cobalt is also critical in the current technology for manufacturing nickel metal hydride batteries, which are as universally used today as they have been since 1999 in all production hybrid-powered vehicles made by Toyota, GM and the other large OEM auto makers. Control of nearly half of the world's cobalt production and almost exactly half of the world's known cobalt reserves is part of the reason and part of the risk being taken by Central African Mining & Exploration Co. [AIM:CFM], which is making an unsolicited bid for Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Katanga Mining Ltd. [TSX: KAT]. Katanga, like CAMEC, operates in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). If the takeover is successful, then CAMEC's DRC operations will produce 60% of the company's cobalt and the DRC operations of Katanga Mining will produce 60% of the copper for the combined company. The critical issue will be where such refined metals will be produced, since up until now it has been common to ship concentrates of copper and cobalt to customers in countries where smelting operations have less than critical friendly local regulators. The final destination for most Katangese ores of copper and cobalt has been up until now the People's Republic of China. The OM Group [NYSE:OMG] is today the world's largest producer of cobalt chemicals sourced primarily from its mines and ore refining operations in the DRC; OMG manufactures, outside of the DRC, a range of cobalt and cobalt containing chemicals for manufacturing rechargeable batteries, and although it has just completed selling off its global nickel operations to Russia's Norilsk, OM still makes nickel/cobalt engineered materials for use in alkaline nickel, nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride battery production. Note well that this last battery type, nickel metal hydride, is today universally used in all hybrid vehicle production by the world's major mass production OEM automobile makers such as Toyota and GM. A brief note about cobalt's occurrence and forms in nature can be found here. Western investors might think that any country with either of the words "Democratic" or People's" in its official UN-registered name would be anything but democratic or oriented for the good of its common people. Further, one would think, such countries would have an affinity for one another. North Korea and China, for example, readily come to mind, so why not the DRC and China? Occasionally even nations with names such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo will come under the control of rulers - I mean, of course, democratically elected officials, with the interests of their people at heart. I wrote on RI earlier this year about one such man, the governor of the DRC's Katanga Province, one of the world's true natural resource treasure houses. This gentleman, educated in the UK, realised that his province, Katanga, and his country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, could never develop economically if it remained simply a mine from which the country's most valuable current assets were removed by unskilled labourers - his people - and moved to other countries where skilled labourers, engineers and scientists could make use of them. He therefore changed the rules. First, he had legislation enacted requiring that a high tax be placed on raw materials for export with a progressive lowering of the tax as the material was upgraded before shipping. The copper mining companies, which are also the cobalt producers, reacted by immediately undertaking the construction of smelters using best practices and best available technology to reduce or eliminate pollution. In addition, the mining companies agreed to educate both on the job and overseas a generation of local Katangese mining and manufacturing engineers. The result has been first the growth and now the consolidation of the copper and cobalt industries in the DRC. Why are copper, nickel and cobalt tied together? Because cobalt, although sometimes found by itself, is predominantly produced as a byproduct of copper and or nickel mining. Today, with cobalt uses growing and therefore demand higher than ever before, while at the same time copper and nickel demand and price have soared in the current supercycle, a cobalt buyer can be fooled into thinking that the more cobalt he buys, the cheaper it will get but that in any case if he is willing to pay enough he can always get cobalt. This, as CAMEC, Katanga and OM know well, is the logical fallacy of reasoning by false analogy. The reasoning would only be correct if all of the world's cobalt were produced as a primary product and if there were no technical limits to its production other than declining ore grades. The U.S., which did not mine or refine cobalt in 2006, nonetheless used an amount of cobalt equal to 20% of all of the cobalt produced in the world that year. Most of the cobalt the U.S. used in 2006 was imported from just three countries: Norway, Russia and Finland. It is likely that most of that material originated in Africa, primarily in the DRC, and was refined in those three countries, although the Russian material was most likely mined and refined in Russia by Norilsk as a byproduct of its nickel operations. CAMEC (and to be fair OM) see the handwriting on the wall; they and Katanga Mining are either now or will shortly be refining in the DRC all of their ores produced in the DRC. This will give effective control of half of the world's cobalt not just to them but to a combination - which cannot be ignored - of those companies and the government of the DRC. U.S. anti-monopoly and price fixing laws do not have any force within the DRC. However, greed, self interest, economic independence and resource nationalism are concepts that are alive and kicking in the DRC. A world economic recession which slows down the demand for copper and nickel will severely impact cobalt production, so I believe that the companies mentioned in this article may well be hurrying to produce cobalt, ship it to warehouses and stockpile it while the global copper and nickel markets allow them to do so with this valuable byproduct. So now what has this got to do with lithium-ion batteries, nickel metal hydride batteries and HEVs, PHEVs and EVs? First, the USGS states that in 2006, "nearly one-half of the cobalt consumed in the U.S. was for use by super alloys, which are used mainly in aircraft gas turbine engines; 9% was in use in cemented carbides for cutting and wear resistant applications; 18% for various other metallic applications; and 24%, for a variety of chemical operations." What the USGS did not say was that lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, which are made today using cobalt, were made in the US in just tiny experimental quantities in 2006 and that no cobalt containing cathode material for nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries was made in the U.S. in 2006! Second, the USGS also said in 2006 that "in most applications, substitution of cobalt (by another metal) would result in a loss of product performance." Third, the best technology so far for manufacturing lithium-ion technology based rechargeable batteries for vehicular power trains is based on lithium-cobalt oxide as an electrode material. This technology, however, has been implicated in overheating and even occasional explosive behaviour by batteries using such technology. An excellent, brief, not too technical survey of lithium-ion battery technology issues including the present position of cobalt utilization in lithium-ion batteries can be found here. There are other non-cobalt lithium-ion technologies known and being touted by public relations announcements of laboratory successes, but even so, as the USGS 2006 Cobalt Survey states, and I repeat, "in most applications, substitution of cobalt would result in a loss of product performance." This has so far turned out to be true for not only lithium-ion battery technology but also - critically so - for nickel metal hydride battery technology. American OEM automotive industry believes that the safety and reliability issues with the present lithium-ion/cobalt rechargeable battery technology may be solved in the near term. It is therefore interested in the global cobalt market. Also there is a real probability that nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries may continue to be used indefinitely as all or part of the battery system for HEVs, PHEVs and EVs. Arrogant individuals in western financial centres like to emphasize their lack of a moral compass - or a need for one - by saying that to them, the Golden Rule is: "Them that's got the gold makes the rules." The gentlemen who own and operate CAMEC, Katanga and OM, along with those who rule the DRC, might counter by saying: "Only them that's got the cobalt determines where and if rechargeable batteries for vehicular power trains are made." I am wondering where CAMEC has come up with a starting offer of $1.4 billion for Katanga. For a private equity fund that amount of money would be trivial, even in the current financial climate. Yet, if a fund were to agree to take physical cobalt future deliveries as a guarantee for its proffered funding, it might have made a brilliant deal, which could be the model for many such deals in the future. It seems to me that corporations that critically need cobalt might be willing to buy a share of such a promise from a private equity fund even today. Gee, if the private equity fund sold enough of those promises, beforehand it would have made either a no-cost or an immediately profitable deal before the first dollar changed hands. China produces very little cobalt; Japan and Korea produce none. Yet the three of them use together twice as much cobalt as the U.S. Not only that, but China was getting most of the cobalt ore from the DRC for smelting and refining. Now that will be done in the DRC, but China still needs material, more so now than ever. How much does China have in that sovereign fund? Isn't Japan now openly stockpiling strategic metals? Interesting questions, aren't they? -END- | |
| August 28, 2007 BHP sales could mark turnaround for cobalt Publisher: SFP Metals Author: Martin O'Neill | |
| London 28 August 2007 12:18, BHP Billiton has booked cobalt sales amounting to more than 40 tonnes at prices as high as $25.60 per lb, marking what some observers think could be a turning point for the blue metal. Cobalt prices had slid through the summer to their seven-month lows but BHP's sale last week as low as $24.20 could represent the bottom of the market, they said. Enquiries increased substantially last week after BHP announced its cheapest sale since January 22, and the sales booked on Monday could represent a welcome return of optimism. "The bottom of the market is here," a trader who bought two of the lots BHP sold on Monday told MB. "Cobalt's on the return." BHP has sold to a number of parties --- at $24.50, $24.70, $25 and $25.60 --- and is now offering at $26.50. "It's a high-grade push at the moment," said the trader, adding focus will soon shift to the low-grade market. Norilsk Nickel booked 15 tonnes at an average of $23.61 per lb last week, but is likely to achieve higher prices this week, he said. "As of yesterday they were still offering at $24 and if we don't take them out, someone else will," he said. The flurry of activity coincides with a tender by superalloys producer Cannon Muskegon for more than 100 tonnes of cobalt for delivery next year. Other consumers are also in the market for fixed price deals for 2008 as the summer doldrums draw to a close. Traders could be buying metal from BHP to cover future demand and are likely to be betting prices will continue to rise, another dealer said. "This could be the match" that ignites the market, he said. -END- | |
| August 15, 2007 Tale of Two Cobalts Publisher: Metal-Pages | |
| LONDON (Metal-Pages) 15-Aug-07. The cobalt market may have taken a break over the summer holiday period in the northern hempishere, but forces remain at work below the surface tugging the largely balanced market in two directions. The bears maintain the high grade market is around $25.30-25.80/lb, maybe "even be 10 cents lower", with low grade about $23.60-24.40. Interestingly, the bulls agree with the high grade quote at $25.30 to 25.80, but put 99.3 substantially higher at $25.20 to 25.50, and Indian/CTT $24.50-24.80/lb. One processor source reported purchases of 99.3% below $24 (ranging from $23.60-23.95), from two producers and one trader. On top of this, said the source: "It appears that a 20 tonne tender went at $23.45 and was well subscribed. We did join in at $23.90 but were way out." One bullish trader, meanwhile, had this to say: "Currently the summer holidays have clouded the fundamentals - but in the next few weeks as customers return from vacation - they will need to obtain metal to fill their glowing furnaces. The next chapter in cobalt is going to be very interesting. I don't think the fundamentals have ever been this strong before. "It is estimated that by the end of this year the shortage will be between 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes. The shortage for 2008 doesn't look much better and I estimate it at 3,000 to 8,000 tonnes, depending on whether Kantaga and Formation [Capital's ICP] come on stream. But these grades have an unknown specification until they come into production." He added that the lowest grade material is now Indian and CTT (Moroccan) which is now trading at a dollar discount to Russian. "Because of their high tramp element they are not allowed anywhere near the booming Aerospace Sector," said the source. As far as current production is concerned, conflicting statistics were released this week. Cobalt production at Xstrata's Nikkelverk refinery (previously owned by Falconbridge) was impacted by reduced supply of cobalt-containing custom feed materials. Cobalt production fell to 1,920 tonnes from 2,530 tonnes in the first half of 2006. However, Zambian copper and cobalt producer, Luanshya Copper Mines recorded a 59% rise in cobalt production to 707 tonnes in the quarter ended June 30,2007, up from 444 tonnes produced in the previous quarter of the year, ceo Derek Webbstock said on August 14. The increase was due to the return to normal production after wage related strikes and a furnace rebuild,which affected production in the first quarter. He described the performance as one of the best since the mine restarted production in 2004. LCM's cobalt production comes from Baluba mine in Luanshya and the company's 20 million tonne Nkana slug dumps in Kitwe through Chambishi Metals' furnace. Baluba mine produced 80-100 tonnes/month, while Chambishi produced about 70%, or around 200 tonnes/month of the company's cobalt production. As the summer draws to a close, it will be revealing to see just whether cobalt hungry consumers come in to feed their furnaces to the brim, or continue to play the waiting game. -END- | |
| July 03, 2007 Idaho Cobalt Project planners say most comments favorable Publisher: Idaho Business Review Author: Idaho Business News Section | |
The company that proposed the Idaho Cobalt Project mining venture near Salmon today said most official public comments to the U.S. Forest Service have been favorable. Canada-based Formation Capital Corp. said in a statement that the Forest Service received 175 official comments. Among them, 160 expressed support for the mine, nine expressed opposition and the rest provided information without indicating an opinion, according to the company. Formation has spent more than eight years on the permitting process. Of the 160 supporters, 90 specifically endorsed Formation's plan, five backed other mining alternatives that the Forest Service presented, and the rest did not specify preference of one mining plan over another, the company said. Bill Scales, president of Formation Capital U.S., said several comments included solid recommendations to improve the company's plans. The Forest Service expects to publish a final Environmental Impact Statement by mid-October in the Federal Register and concurrently issue a Record of Decision, pending the outcome of consultations with other federal environmental agencies, the company said. Afterward, the federal government will allow 45 days for appeals, and another 45 days for resolution of appeals. -END- | |
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