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Cruz Cobalt Closes Private Placement
CUZ:TSX.v | BKTPF:USA | A2AMG8:Germany
Cruz Cobalt Closes Private Placement
Cruz Cobalt Corp. (CUZ—TSXv, BKTPF—OTCBB, A2DMG8--FSE) Cruz Cobalt Corp. ("Cruz" or the "Company") has closed a non-brokered private placement consisting of 2,000,000 units at 22.5 cents per unit for gross proceeds of $450,000. Each unit consists of one common share of the Company and one transferable share purchase warrant, exercisable at 30 cents per share for a period of two years. There is no finders' fee for this private placement. Proceeds will be used towards the Company's working capital. Cruz filed a price reservation form with the TSX Venture Exchange on December 6, 2017.
James Nelson, President of Cruz states, “We are very pleased to be able to close this placement in such a short period of time. The demand for cobalt globally has never been higher. Yesterday President Trump announced that the USA wants to source domestic battery metals such as lithium and cobalt and avoid foreign imports. This is a very positive step as Cruz has projects in Canada as well as in Idaho and Montana. We plan to be active on both of the USA Cobalt projects in 2018. We are very optimistic about 2018 as we leave 2017 with more cash in the bank than any other time and cobalt prices at nine year highs.”
link to latest co. news here,,startup soon
http://www.cruzcobaltcorp.com/2017/11/09/cruz-looking-to-start-operations-on-war-eagle-cobalt-prospect-in-british-columbia/
the.day.you.posted.that.post this stock stopped running up,,,things that make me go "hhmmmmmm"
BKTPF On Fire!
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Cobalt Price per Pound reaches a
New 9-year HIGH of $29.03!
Multiple Cobalt Work Programs are
Now Underway in North America!
CUZ:TSX.v | BKTPF:USA | A2DMG8:Germany
Please see the link below to Cruz Cobalt Corp's fresh video content:
http://www.investmentpitch.com/video/0_1pkqpo2u/Whats-Behind-the-Global-Demand-for-Cobalt
Cruz Cobalt Corp (CUZ—TSXv, BKTPF—OTCBB, A2DMG8--FSE)
Thank you for your interest in Cruz Cobalt Corp. As you can see there are many compelling reasons to look at Cruz Cobalt Corp immediately. Cruz has recently hired experienced geologists to begin operations on our Ontario, Idaho, and Montana projects. Cruz has recently completed an airborne survey over our 4 Ontario cobalt prospects which has identified 6 primary cobalt targets. Also, Cruz has mobilized crews and commenced work programs on Cruz's 100-per-cent-owned Idaho Star cobalt prospect in Idaho, and Cruz's 100-per-cent-owned Chicken Hawk Cobalt Prospect in Montana, USA.
According to President James Nelson, “Cruz employed early mover advantage as Cruz has been able to acquire, what we feel is one of the best collections of high grade cobalt prospects in North America before the majority of the recent cobalt entrants were in the space. Cruz currently has Seven cobalt projects located in Canada, one in Idaho and one in Montana. Cruz's 4 separate Ontario cobalt prospects are all located in the vicinity of the city of Cobalt. According to government mineral files, the 1,265 acre Coleman Cobalt Prospect returned cobalt grades of 13%, the 900 acre Johnson Cobalt Prospect returned grades of 10.5% cobalt, and the 1,580 acre Bucke Cobalt Prospect returned cobalt grades of 13%. The 4,980 acre Hector Cobalt Prospect covers multiple cobalt occurrences. Our 4,935 acre War Eagle Cobalt Prospect in British Columbia covers a past producing mine as well and returned assays of 6.5% cobalt. Cruz’s USA projects include the 1,940 acre Chicken Hawk prospect in Montana and the 880 acre Idaho Star prospect. Based on these projects, management feels that Cruz has amassed a quality portfolio of cobalt assets that have some of the highest historic cobalt grades in North America, which sets Cruz apart from most cobalt companies in the junior space."
Cruz is now trading approximately 30% below our recent year highs.
"We feel that 2017 will be a break out year for cobalt prices and Cruz is well positioned to take full advantage of this. Cruz has the money already raised to commence full operations on these projects with our goal to make Cruz the 'go-to' North American Cobalt project generator and developer. The second half of 2017 will be an extremely active period for Cruz and management is optimistic about what will be discovered by Cruz on our cobalt properties.” states President Nelson.
Cruz has had one property transaction to date in line with the project generator and developer model. That Idaho Cobalt Property was vended to US Cobalt Inc (USCO--TSX.v, SCTFF--USA) formerly named Scientific Metals Corp (STM--TSX.v, SCTFF--USA) in late 2016.
Cruz is fully cashed up and currently underway with operations on multiple projects in North America.
Cobalt prices have increased significantly over the past 12 months and have recently broken out to new 9-year highs of over $29 per pound. We feel that cobalt prices could have the same type of parabolic move like lithium has had. Similar dynamics that have driven lithium prices higher are present in cobalt, and that is why Cruz established itself at the early stages of this sector move by securing multiple high grade cobalt projects.
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Below is the historical Lithium price (USD$) per metric tonne
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As you can see in the map below, Cruz Cobalt also has exposure to the lithium market through its property that is strategically located in the Clayton Valley of Nevada with access to deepest parts of the only lithium brine basin in production in North America.
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Planned Lithium-Ion Battery Megafactories:
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Additional Information:
Here is a good graphic explaining the battery make up and how cobalt fits in:
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/critical-ingredients-fuel-battery-boom/
Here is a link to a recent article reporting about the mining of cobalt in Africa. As you can see this is why we are focused on developing and acquiring high grade projects in politically stable, environmentally responsible and ethical mining jurisdictions:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/classic-apps/the-cobalt-pipeline-from-dangerous-tunnels-in-congo-to-consumers-mobile-tech/2016/09/30/66103382-5a8c-11e6-9767-f6c947fd0cb8_story.html?tid=hybrid_collaborative_1_na-amp
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/business/economy/companies-respond-to-questions-about-their-cobalt-supply-chains/2016/09/30/910f94de-7b51-11e6-bd86-b7bbd53d2b5d_story.html%3f0p19G=e?client=safari
Company Highlights:
· Cruz has recently completed an airborne survey over our 4 Ontario cobalt projects which has identified 6 primary cobalt targets
· Cruz has mobilized crews and commenced a work program on Cruz's 100-per-cent-owned Idaho Star cobalt prospect in Idaho and Cruz's 100-per-cent-owned Chicken Hawk Cobalt Prospect in Montana, USA
· Cruz has recently hired experienced geologists to begin operations on our Ontario, Idaho & Montana projects
· The Coleman Cobalt Prospect consisting of approximately 1,265 acres in the Larder Lake mining division of Ontario returned grades of up to 13% cobalt and appear to be an extension of the Tretheway veins (historic data)
· The 1,580 acre Bucke Cobalt Prospect in the Larder Lake mining division of Ontario returned assays grading 13% cobalt and 240 g/t silver (historic data)
· The 900 acre Johnson Cobalt Prospect in the Larder Lake mining division of Ontario encountered grab assays over 300m up to 10.5% cobalt, 69 g/t AG, 12% NI and .4% CU (historic data)
· The Hector Cobalt Prospect consisting of approximately 4,980 acres in the Larder Lake mining division of Ontario covers multiple cobalt occurrences
· The 4,935 acre War Eagle Cobalt Prospect in BC covers a past producing mine and has encountered surface samples of 6.41% cobalt, 3.59% nickel and 7.25% copper (historic data)
· The 880 acre Idaho Star Cobalt Prospect has Geological data showing this prospect area to have been active for mining of cobalt, silver and copper in the past
· In Montana, the 1,950 acre Chicken Hawk Cobalt Prospect claims surround 4 patented claims, no less than 15 prospects, and 3 adits
· Cobalt is one of the main elements in Lithium-Ion batteries
· Cruz Cobalt also has exposure to the lithium market through its property that is strategically located in the Clayton Valley of Nevada with access to deepest parts of the only lithium brine basin in production in North America.
If you would like to be added to Cruz’s email list please send an email to info@cruzcobaltcorp.com or twitter @CruzCobalt
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Seth Kay
Director
604.899.9150
Toll free 1.855.599.9150
www.cruzcobaltcorp.com
twitter @CruzCobalt
Cruz Cobalt to Make Application for Exploration Permit on the Johnson Cobalt Prospect in Ontario
http://www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2017/03/16/cobalt-expansion-on-the-horizon-in-canada
Looks like the fire went out.
CRUZ COBALT CORP TO MAKE APPLICATION FOR AN EXPLORATION PERMIT ON THE BUCKE COBALT PROSPECT IN ONTARIO
http://cruzcobaltcorp.com/cruz-cobalt-corp-make-application-exploration-permit-bucke-cobalt-prospect-ontario/
Cruz Cap Corp. changed to Cruz Cobalt Corp.
http://otce.finra.org/DLSymbolNameChanges
Children as young as seven mining cobalt used in smartphones
North American Cobalt Demand Grows. Tesla wants a domestic supply for battery giga-factory. No companies in North America want cobalt from the DRC.
Amnesty International says it has traced cobalt used in batteries for household brands to mines in DRC, where children work in life-threatening conditions.
Children as young as seven are working in perilous conditions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to mine cobalt that ends up in smartphones, cars and computers sold to millions across the world, by household brands including Apple, Microsoft and Vodafone, according to a new investigation by Amnesty International.
The human rights group claims to have traced cobalt used in lithium batteries sold to 16 multinational brands to mines where young children and adults are being paid a dollar a day, working in life-threatening conditions and subjected to violence, extortion and intimidation.
More than half the world’s supply of cobalt comes from the DRC, with 20% of cobalt exported coming from artisanal mines in the southern part of the country. In 2012, Unicef estimated that there were 40,000 children working in all the mines across the south, many involved in mining cobalt.
In a joint-investigation with African Resources Watch (Afrewatch), an African NGO focusing on human rights in the minerals and extractive industries, Amnesty International says it interviewed 90 adults and children working in five artisanal cobalt mine sites. Workers spoke of labouring for 12 hours a day with no protective clothing, and with many experiencing significant health problems as a result.
The report says that child miners as young as seven carried back-breaking loads and worked in intense heat for between one or two dollars a day without face masks or gloves. Several children said they had been beaten by security guards employed by mining companies and forced to pay “fines” by unauthorized mines police sent by state officials to extort money and intimidate workers.
The human rights groups say they traced the supply chain from these mining sites to Congo Dongfang Mining (CDM), one of the largest mineral processors in the DRC and a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese mineral company Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd (Huayou Cobalt).
The report says that Huayou Cobalt sources more than 40% of its cobalt from the DRC and processes the raw mineral before selling it to battery makers, who claim to supply companies including Apple, Microsoft and Vodafone. This supply chain has not been independently verified by the Guardian.
Responding to the allegations, Huayou Cobalt told Amnesty International that “our company has not been aware that any of our legitimate suppliers has hired child labour in their mining sites or operated in unsafe working conditions … CDM has rigorously selected its ore suppliers to ensure the procurement of raw materials through legitimate channels”.
Of the 16 companies listed in the report as sourcing from battery manufacturers using processed cobalt from Huayou Cobalt, two multinational companies denied sourcing any cobalt from the DRC and five said they had no links with Huayou Cobalt. The remaining companies either accepted Amnesty’s claims or were investigating the claims.
In its response to Amnesty’s allegations, which Amnesty has published in full alongside responses from the other named companies, Apple said it was currently evaluating whether cobalt in the company’s products originated in the DRC.
“Underage labour is not tolerated in our supply chain and we are proud to have led the industry in pioneering new safeguards,” it says.
Vodafone, in its response to Amnesty, stated that the company “is unaware as to whether or not cobalt in our products originates in Katanga in the DRC … both the smelters and the mines from which the metals such as cobalt are originally sourced are several steps away from Vodafone in the supply chain”.
Amnesty International and Afrewatch claim that despite the denials by some of the named multinationals, none of those companies named could independently verify where the cobalt in their products come from.
“What is very worrying is that none of the companies that we identified through our research and named in investor documents could trace the cobalt they use in their products back to the mines where it originated. Around half of all cobalt comes from the DRC, and no company can validly claim that they are unaware of the human rights and child labour abuses linked with mineral extraction in the region,” says Mark Dummett, business and human rights researcher at Amnesty International.
He said that some of the company responses to Amnesty’s assertions were “staggering”. For example, when asked by Amnesty International whether it sourced cobalt from CDM or Huayou Cobalt, Microsoft responded by saying: “We have not traced the cobalt used through our supply chain to the smelter level due to the complexity and the resources required.”
“These are some of the biggest companies in the world, with combined profits of $125 billion and there is no excuse that companies aren’t investing some of that profit into ensuring that they can trace where the minerals they are using are coming from,” says Dummett. “Anyone with a smartphone would be appalled to think that children as young as seven carrying out back-breaking work for 12 hours a day could be involved at some point in the making of it.”
The DRC has a long history of bloody conflict fuelled by the region’s mineral wealth and the region still has an estimated $24 trillion in untapped minerals.
Global demand for cobalt is increasing, but the global cobalt market remains largely unregulated as it falls outside “conflict mineral” legislation regulating the extraction and sale of other mineral such as gold, coltan and tin from the DRC.
Amnesty and Afrewatch are using the findings of the report to call on multinational companies to conduct investigations of their supply chains for lithium-ion batteries, to check for child labour or labour abuses and to be more transparent about their suppliers.
Toronto Fund Manager Mentions Cruz in the Financial Post
CUZ:TSX.v | BKTPF:USA | A2AG5M:Germany
Cruz Capital Corp (CUZ—TSXv, BKTPF—OTCBB, A2AG5M--FSE) wishes to report that Toronto Fund Mangaer Steve Palmer was quoted in the financial post today and he mentions Cruz and cobalt. full article is here
http://www.financialpost.com/m/wp/investing/buy-sell/blog.html?b=business.financialpost.com/investing/buy-sell/still-opportunities-in-the-small-cap-space-this-fund-manager-says
“I think the sector was getting somewhat overheated, as a lot of junior lithium companies have popped up,” he said. “Many of them are promotional and most of them will fail, so we’ve transitioned the portfolio a bit from lithium to cobalt.”
Palmer states..."Another holding, Cruz Capital Corp. (CUZ/TSX-V), has accumulated quite a few properties that are prospective for cobalt, and will be initiating work programs on some of them shortly."
“The big issue with cobalt is that a lot of the production is out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but there are some issues there in terms of human rights,” Palmer said. “People are trying to avoid supporting that industry there, so the focus is on cobalt in legitimate jurisdictions like North America.”
The manager also noted that since cobalt is a by-product of copper production, investors can opt for a larger miner for their exposure to the commodity. The problem is these large mining stocks are primarily driven by the copper price or other base metals, not cobalt.
Since cobalt, like lithium, is used in rechargeable batteries, the demand for these commodities is growing significantly along with electrical vehicle usage and energy storage facilities.
Another very hot sector in the junior resource space has been marijuana stocks. It’s an area Palmer has largely avoided, as he is quite negative on the sector as a whole.
“I think investors need to be very cautious because these stocks are trading at crazy valuations, and there is nothing proprietary about the majority of them,” he said. “I believe they are all going to 10 cents within a couple of years, and it may happen sooner rather than later, when people realize these companies are not going to be as profitable as they thought.”
Palmer likens it to growing tomatoes. Companies are simply growing a plant, and the margins are going to get squeezed.
COBALT PRICES:
Yesterday Cobalt prices spiked up today $0.45 cents to year highs today at $14.06. Cruz is actively engaged in acquiring and developing Cobalt assets globally. Cruz has recently acquired numerous high grade cobalt assets located in North America. 7 cobalt projects are in Canada and 1 in Idaho, USA (please scroll down for more information). The goal of the company is to make Cruz the foremost cobalt project generator and developer on the TSX Venture Exchange. Management feels that cobalt is at the early stages of a significant bull market and we are pleased to be positioning Cruz at the forefront of this cycle.
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We also came across this good article regarding cobalt on seeking alpha.com...Tesla's Evolving Cobalt Nightmare.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/4027400-teslas-evolving-cobalt-nightmare
Summary
Long-range electric vehicles cannot be produced at relevant scale unless automakers have ready access to plentiful supplies of cheap high energy lithium-ion batteries.
All high energy lithium-ion batteries use more cobalt in their formulations than lithium.
While new lithium resources can be developed if prices are high enough, 94% of the world's cobalt is produced as a by-product of copper and nickel mining.
Without sustained increases in copper and nickel demand, the battery industry will not be able to obtain the cobalt it needs at anything approaching a reasonable price.
Without a miner miracle (pun intended), Tesla Motors' EV dream will soon become a cobalt nightmare.
Over the last 10 years, we've been deluged with news stories and investment analyses extolling the virtues of electric vehicles, or EVs, powered by high energy lithium-ion batteries. The stories pontificate on theoretical environmental benefits and speculate on how EVs could forever change the world's energy landscape. While the occasional realist questions the availability of enough lithium to satisfy soaring battery industry demand, everybody overlooks or ignores the more critical mineral constraint - cobalt.
It's a gargantuan challenge. A veritable Gigarisk!
This graph from BatteryUniversity summarizes the typical specific energies for nine different battery chemistries.
cobalt image dec 1.png
The six lithium-ion chemistries (orange columns) use varying amounts of lithium metal in their cathode and electrolyte formulations. While there is no single "right" value, a lithium-ion battery with perfect electrochemical efficiency would need 80 grams of lithium per kWh of capacity. Since perfection doesn't exist in the real world, the industry average is closer to 160 g/kWh.
According to Avicenne Energy, the lithium-ion battery industry used 118,000 metric tons of active cathode material batteries in 2014, which works out to an average of 2.4 kg/kWh. According to BatteryUniversity, LCO, NMC and NCA, the lithium-ion chemistries with the highest energy densities, all use cobalt in their cathodes. For LCO, cobalt represents 60% of cathode mass, about 1.44 kg/kWh. For NMC, cobalt represents about 15% of cathode mass, about 0.36 kg/kWh. For NCA, cobalt represents 9% of cathode mass, about 0.22 kg/kWh.
Avicenne expects global battery production to climb to about 135 GWh per year by 2025. Since Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), LG Chem (OTC:LGCEY), Foxconn, BYD (OTCPK:BYDDY) and Boston Power are all building new battery factories that will boost manufacturing capacity to over 150 GWh by 2020, Avicenne's forecast is probably conservative. For purposes of this article, however, I think conservative is best.
Supply and Demand for Lithium and Cobalt. My first table summarizes the (1) current annual global production (in metric tons) of lithium and cobalt, (2) estimated tonnage of each metal embodied in finished cells sold by battery industry in 2015, and (3) estimated tonnage of each metal that will be embodied in finished cells sold by the battery industry in 2020 and 2025 if battery demand grows at the modest rates forecast by Avicenne.
According to the USGS, the battery industry accounted for 35% of global lithium demand in 2015, or roughly 11,375 tonnes of refined metal purchases for 9,760 tonnes of finished product metal content. According to the Cobalt Development Institute, or CDI, the battery industry accounted for 41% of global cobalt demand in 2015, or roughly 40,600 tonnes of refined metal purchases for 35,200 tonnes of finished product metal content. While raw material scrap and shrinkage rates of 15% may strike some as high, they're actually pretty reasonable when one considers the complexity of converting refined metal feedstocks into finished battery products.
When I look at these numbers, I'm convinced that global production of lithium and cobalt must ramp very rapidly over the next few years if the battery industry wants to avoid insurmountable supply chain challenges. Unfortunately, both lithium and cobalt either co-products or minor by-products of other minerals and increased demand for lithium and cobalt may not be enough to move the needle for mining companies.
Lithium Production Dynamics. Lithium is an odd "minor metal" and current global production is only 32,500 tonnes of metal content per year, or about 172,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate. According to the USGS, lithium is used in batteries, 35%; ceramics and glass, 32%; lubricating greases, 9%; air treatment and continuous casting mold flux powders, 5% each; polymer production, 4%; primary aluminum production, 1%; and other uses, 9%.
According to SQM (NYSE:SQM), the world's largest lithium producer:
"Salar brines are located in the nucleus of the Salar de Atacama. They contain the greatest lithium and potassium concentrations ever known, in addition to considerable sulphate and boron concentrations. From this natural resource lithium carbonate, potassium chloride, potassium sulphate, boric acid and magnesium chloride are produced."
In its Q2-16 financial report, SQM disclosed that:
Operations on the Atacama Saltpeter Deposit produced potassium chloride, lithium chloride, boric acid and potassium sulfate; (Note 26.8)
Operations in the Salar del Carmen produced lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide; (Note 26.8) and
Operations in the Salar de Atacama generated 42.5% of its total comprehensive income, including the income from its potassium and lithium product lines (Note 19.3).
SQM also provided the following disclosure of its comprehensive income classified by product segments for the six-month periods ended June 30, 2015 and 2016. (Note 26.3)
Lithium production is clearly SQM's most profitable segment, but operations in the Salar de Atacama would not make sense without the potassium, plant nutrients and other minerals that SQM produces from the Salar. That means any decision to increase lithium production will depend on stable and sustained global markets for the co-products because SQM can't produce more lithium without also producing more co-products. If increased supply forces co-product prices down, the game may not be worth the candle.
I don't know enough about SQM's operations to understand the interplay between lithium and its other products, but I do find it fascinating that revenues were flat from 2015 to 2016 and total gross profit fell by roughly 10% despite the fact that lithium revenues doubled and lithium gross profits increased by 135%.
If SQM will have to grapple with co-product market strength issues in any decision to expand lithium production from the Salar de Atacama, I have to believe other companies that produce the overwhelming bulk of the world's lithium from brines will face similar issues.
At present, the battery industry uses 35 percent of global lithium production. Over the next 10 years, that percentage will increase to about 78 percent unless additional resources are brought into production. Given the usefulness of lithium in other industries, I have a hard time accepting the suggestion that the battery industry can lock down 78 percent of the available supply and do so at attractive prices.
In my view, lithium production dynamics provide a meaningful window of opportunity for junior miners that can bring new lithium projects online quickly. But investors who are considering the lithium space must understand that (a) lithium is not and never will be "the new gasoline," (b) mining projects always take longer and cost more than anyone expects, and (c) extreme caution and careful skeptical analysis are essential.
Cobalt Production Dynamics. According to the Cobalt Development Institute, an incredible 94% of global cobalt supplies come from nickel and copper mines that produce cobalt as a by-product. That means only 6% of global cobalt supplies come from mines that might be able to increase production in response to growing demand from the battery industry.
Every year, the world's nickel miners sell $14.58 billion of nickel and $1.05 billion of cobalt, which means cobalt revenue represents 6.7% of their total revenue. It's even worse with copper miners who sell $68.4 billion of copper and $0.92 billion of cobalt, which means cobalt revenue represents 1.3% of their total revenue.
Expecting the supply side of the cobalt market to respond to the needs of the battery industry is like expecting a cropped tail to wag a Rottweiler.
While global production of refined cobalt surged from 52,400 tons in 2005 to 99,000 tons in 2015, the bulk of the increase was attributable to new capacity from African copper mines. In addition to thorny regulatory issues for companies that buy metals from African miners, metal production from African mines is not necessarily reliable. In 2015, Glencore (OTCPK:GLCNF) produced 421,900 tons of copper and 19,400 tons of cobalt from its Katanga, Mutanda and Mopani mines in Africa. In September of last year, Glencore announced the closure of Katanga and Mopani for 18 months as part of a debt reduction and modernization plan. Those closures will temporarily cut cobalt production capacity by several thousand tons.
According to the Cobalt Development Institute, the battery industry uses 41% of global cobalt supplies. Over the next 10 years, that percentage will increase to about 65% unless new cobalt resources are brought into production. While there is limited competition in the global markets for lithium, cobalt is one of the most useful metals going. Critical non-battery uses include:
Superalloys for combustion turbine engines (16%)
Hardened high-speed steel for machine tooling (7%);
Hardened carbides and diamond tooling (10%);
Petroleum desulfuring catalysts (7%);
Pigments (6%);
Magnets (5%); and
Others (8%).
The bottom line is that the cobalt supply chain is entirely dependent on global demand for nickel and copper. To make matters worse, cobalt demand is tremendously inflexible because of (1) the critical nature of alternative uses, and (2) the lower price sensitivity of competitive users. While new primary cobalt mines may come online, exploration, permitting and development for a new metal mine typically involves a decade of work and billions of dollars.
In my view, the battery industry is on the verge of a very unpleasant confrontation with the inescapable realities of the mining industry. The supply side of the cobalt equation is entirely dependent on global demand for nickel and copper. The demand side of the cobalt equation includes a rich variety of competitive manufacturers that need cobalt for products the world considers essential.
Any time rapidly increasing demand crosses swords with inflexible supply, the outcome is substantially higher prices. Since I first wrote about cobalt supply constraints in March of this year, cobalt spot prices have increased by almost 40% as astute investors began to recognize an unavoidable global shortage. Over the next six months, things should get really interesting.
The battery industry itself does have some capacity to free up additional cobalt supplies by phasing out LCO chemistry, which requires 1.44 kg/kWh of cobalt, and reconfiguring LCO plants to manufacture products with NMC or NCA chemistries, which require 0.36 and 0.22 kg/kWh of cobalt, respectively.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall of a meeting where one battery manufacturer tells another, "I want you to stop making LCO batteries so that I can repurpose your supply chain for my business."
BYD and LG Chem currently manufacture LCO batteries and they may be able to repurpose their supply chains to accommodate higher production of low-cobalt batteries. Unless new market entrants like Tesla, Foxconn and Boston Power are quietly reconfiguring their factories to make low-energy LTO, LFP and LMO cells, I see no reasonable possibility that any of them will be able to build a secure cobalt supply chain in the foreseeable future.
Conclusion. In the lithium-ion battery industry, materials costs are 50 to 70 percent of total manufacturing costs, one of the highest ratios on the planet. Prevailing green mythology holds that lithium-ion battery prices will fall dramatically as anticipated production rates soar due to Gigafactories and other vaguely defined "economies of scale." Given the current production dynamics for both lithium and cobalt, increased demand can only lead to higher raw material prices. Since most competitive users of lithium and cobalt are far less sensitive to raw material prices than battery manufacturers, it's a safe bet that they'll protect their supply chains and the battery industry will either have to pay up or do without.
Tesla cannot launch a $35,000 Model 3 without a Gigafactory that's operating at or near its design capacity of 35 GWh per year. That will require about 7,800 tonnes of cobalt per year. Everything I've seen says Tesla doesn't have a cobalt supply chain that can take almost 10% of global cobalt production away from the companies that are presently using the metal.
The bottom line for investors is, "It doesn't matter how big your Gigafactory is if you don't have a rock-solid supply chain for your essential raw materials."
ABOUT CRUZ:
Cruz recently announced that the company has increased its cobalt property holdings by 137 claim units now comprising of approximately 5500 contiguous acres. The Hector Cobalt Prospect is one of 4 cobalt prospects in Ontario currently held by Cruz to go along with 3 in British Columbia and 1 in Idaho.
The Hector Cobalt Prospect now consists of approximately 5500 acres in the Larder Lake mining division of Ontario. According to the Province of Ontario Mineral file MDl31M05SE00127, the property was mined for cobalt and is a past producer of cobalt. This new expansion also covers multiple other cobalt showings based on Government of Ontario files. We look forward to commencing operations on this prospect to evaluate and follow up on the historic data gathered.
Cruz President, James Nelson, stated, "We continue to expand our cobalt projects. The Hector Cobalt Prospect, according to the Government minfile, was a past producer for cobalt, which compliments the stable of high quality cobalt prospects Cruz currently has. This new addition also covers multiple other cobalt showings based on Government of Ontario data. We are very excited about the growth potential for Cruz as we continue to add cobalt assets at a time when Cobalt is making year highs almost daily (see chart). Cruz is focused on high grade cobalt assets in North America and we look forward to getting operations underway on multiple cobalt prospects. With 8 current cobalt projects in the Company, we believe Cruz is in a unique position at the forefront of what we feel will be an impending global cobalt boom.”
Cruz is actively engaged in acquiring and developing Cobalt assets globally and has already acquired several high-grade cobalt projects across North America. Seven cobalt projects are located in Canada and one in Idaho. The goal of the company is to make Cruz the foremost cobalt project generator and developer on the TSX Venture Exchange. Management feels that cobalt is at the early stages of a significant bull market and we are pleased to be positioning Cruz at the forefront of this cycle.
The technical contents of this release were approved by Greg Thomson, PGeo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The property has not been the subject of a National Instrument 43-101 report.
If you would like to be added to Cruz’s email list please send an email to info@cruzcapitalcorp.com or twitter @CruzCapitalCorp
James Nelson
President
604.899.9150
Toll free 1.885.599.9150
www.cruzcapitalcorp.com
twitter @CruzCapitalCorp.
CRUZ INFORMATION:
Cruz Capital Corp (CUZ:TSXv, BKTPF:USA, A2AG5M:Germany) . Cruz is actively engaged in acquiring and developing Cobalt assets globally. Cruz has acquired numerous high grade cobalt assets located in North America. Seven cobalt projects are in Canada and one in Idaho. The goal of the company is to make Cruz the foremost cobalt project generator and developer on the TSX Venture Exchange. Management feels that cobalt is at the early stages of a significant bull market and we are pleased to be positioning Cruz at the forefront of this cycle.
Cobalt prices have increased significantly over the past 9 months and appear to be breaking out. We feel that cobalt prices could have the same type of parabolic move like lithium has had. Similar dynamics that have driven lithium prices higher are present in cobalt, and that is why Cruz established itself at the early stages of this sector move securing multiple high grade cobalt projects.
lithium price chart.jpg
Additional Information:
Here is a good graphic explaining the battery make up and how cobalt fits in
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/critical-ingredients-fuel-battery-boom/
Here is a link to a recent article reporting about the mining of cobalt in Africa. As you can see this is why we are focused on developing and acquiring high grade projects in politically safe and responsible governments.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/classic-apps/the-cobalt-pipeline-from-dangerous-tunnels-in-congo-to-consumers-mobile-tech/2016/09/30/66103382-5a8c-11e6-9767-f6c947fd0cb8_story.html?tid=hybrid_collaborative_1_na-amp
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/business/economy/companies-respond-to-questions-about-their-cobalt-supply-chains/2016/09/30/910f94de-7b51-11e6-bd86-b7bbd53d2b5d_story.html%3f0p19G=e?client=safari
cobalt graphic.png
Cruz has recently acquired 8 separate cobalt prospects across North America
The Hector cobalt prospect consisting of approximately 5,500 acres in the Larder Lake mining division of Ontario was mined for cobalt and is a past producer of cobalt.
Bucke Cobalt Prospect in the Larder Lake mining division of Ontario returned assays grading 13% COBALT and 240 g/t SILVER (historic Ontario data)
The Johnson Cobalt Prospect encountered grab assays over 300m up to 10.5% cobalt, 69 g/t AG, 12% NI and .4% CU (historic data)
The War Eagle Prospect encountered surface samples of 6.41% cobalt, 3.59% nickel and 7.25% copper (historic data)
Cobalt is one of the main elements in Lithium-Ion batteries
Seasoned Expert, Fritz ten Doornkaat of Switzerland has been added as a strategic European adviser
Thank you for your time and consideration.
James Nelson
President
604.899.9150
Toll free 1.885.599.9150
Electric Cars
Long-range electric vehicles cannot be produced at relevant scale unless automakers have ready access to plentiful supplies of cheap high energy lithium-ion batteries.
All high energy lithium-ion batteries use more cobalt in their formulations than lithium.
While new lithium resources can be developed if prices are high enough, 94% of the world's cobalt is produced as a by-product of copper and nickel mining.
Without sustained increases in copper and nickel demand, the battery industry will not be able to obtain the cobalt it needs at anything approaching a reasonable price.
Without a miner miracle (pun intended), Tesla Motors' EV dream will soon become a cobalt nightmare.
Over the last 10 years, we've been deluged with news stories and investment analyses extolling the virtues of electric vehicles, or EVs, powered by high energy lithium-ion batteries. The stories pontificate on theoretical environmental benefits and speculate on how EVs could forever change the world's energy landscape. While the occasional realist questions the availability of enough lithium to satisfy soaring battery industry demand, everybody overlooks or ignores the more critical mineral constraint - cobalt.
It's a gargantuan challenge. A veritable Gigarisk!
This graph from BatteryUniversity summarizes the typical specific energies for nine different battery chemistries.
image: https://staticseekingalpha.a.ssl.fastly.net/uploads/2016/11/227454_14805308014514_0_thumb.jpg
The six lithium-ion chemistries (orange columns) use varying amounts of lithium metal in their cathode and electrolyte formulations. While there is no single "right" value, a lithium-ion battery with perfect electrochemical efficiency would need 80 grams of lithium per kWh of capacity. Since perfection doesn't exist in the real world, the industry average is closer to 160 g/kWh.
According to Avicenne Energy, the lithium-ion battery industry used 118,000 metric tons of active cathode material batteries in 2014, which works out to an average of 2.4 kg/kWh. According to BatteryUniversity, LCO, NMC and NCA, the lithium-ion chemistries with the highest energy densities, all use cobalt in their cathodes. For LCO, cobalt represents 60% of cathode mass, about 1.44 kg/kWh. For NMC, cobalt represents about 15% of cathode mass, about 0.36 kg/kWh. For NCA, cobalt represents 9% of cathode mass, about 0.22 kg/kWh.
Avicenne expects global battery production to climb to about 135 GWh per year by 2025. Since Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), LG Chem (OTC:LGCEY), Foxconn, BYD (OTCPK:BYDDY) and Boston Power are all building new battery factoriesthat will boost manufacturing capacity to over 150 GWh by 2020, Avicenne's forecast is probably conservative. For purposes of this article, however, I think conservative is best.
Supply and Demand for Lithium and Cobalt. My first table summarizes the (1) current annual global production (in metric tons) of lithium and cobalt, (2) estimated tonnage of each metal embodied in finished cells sold by battery industry in 2015, and (3) estimated tonnage of each metal that will be embodied in finished cells sold by the battery industry in 2020 and 2025 if battery demand grows at the modest rates forecast by Avicenne.
image: https://staticseekingalpha.a.ssl.fastly.net/uploads/2016/11/30/227454-14805317851649897.png
According to the USGS, the battery industry accounted for 35% of global lithium demand in 2015, or roughly 11,375 tonnes of refined metal purchases for 9,760 tonnes of finished product metal content. According to the Cobalt Development Institute, or CDI, the battery industry accounted for 41% of global cobalt demand in 2015, or roughly 40,600 tonnes of refined metal purchases for 35,200 tonnes of finished product metal content. While raw material scrap and shrinkage rates of 15% may strike some as high, they're actually pretty reasonable when one considers the complexity of converting refined metal feedstocks into finished battery products.
When I look at these numbers, I'm convinced that global production of lithium and cobalt must ramp very rapidly over the next few years if the battery industry wants to avoid insurmountable supply chain challenges. Unfortunately, both lithium and cobalt either co-products or minor by-products of other minerals and increased demand for lithium and cobalt may not be enough to move the needle for mining companies.
Lithium Production Dynamics. Lithium is an odd "minor metal" and current global production is only 32,500 tonnes of metal content per year, or about 172,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate. According to the USGS, lithium is used in batteries, 35%; ceramics and glass, 32%; lubricating greases, 9%; air treatment and continuous casting mold flux powders, 5% each; polymer production, 4%; primary aluminum production, 1%; and other uses, 9%.
According to SQM (NYSE:SQM), the world's largest lithium producer:
"Salar brines are located in the nucleus of the Salar de Atacama. They contain the greatest lithium and potassium concentrations ever known, in addition to considerable sulphate and boron concentrations. From this natural resource lithium carbonate, potassium chloride, potassium sulphate, boric acid and magnesium chloride are produced."
In its Q2-16 financial report, SQM disclosed that:
Operations on the Atacama Saltpeter Deposit produced potassium chloride, lithium chloride, boric acid and potassium sulfate; (Note 26.8)
Operations in the Salar del Carmen produced lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide; (Note 26.8) and
Operations in the Salar de Atacama generated 42.5% of its total comprehensive income, including the income from its potassium and lithium product lines (Note 19.3).
SQM also provided the following disclosure of its comprehensive income classified by product segments for the six-month periods ended June 30, 2015 and 2016. (Note 26.3)
image: https://staticseekingalpha.a.ssl.fastly.net/uploads/2016/11/30/227454-14805318147044096.png
Lithium production is clearly SQM's most profitable segment, but operations in the Salar de Atacama would not make sense without the potassium, plant nutrients and other minerals that SQM produces from the Salar. That means any decision to increase lithium production will depend on stable and sustained global markets for the co-products because SQM can't produce more lithium without also producing more co-products. If increased supply forces co-product prices down, the game may not be worth the candle.
I don't know enough about SQM's operations to understand the interplay between lithium and its other products, but I do find it fascinating that revenues were flat from 2015 to 2016 and total gross profit fell by roughly 10% despite the fact that lithium revenues doubled and lithium gross profits increased by 135%.
If SQM will have to grapple with co-product market strength issues in any decision to expand lithium production from the Salar de Atacama, I have to believe other companies that produce the overwhelming bulk of the world's lithium from brines will face similar issues.
At present, the battery industry uses 35 percent of global lithium production. Over the next 10 years, that percentage will increase to about 78 percent unless additional resources are brought into production. Given the usefulness of lithium in other industries, I have a hard time accepting the suggestion that the battery industry can lock down 78 percent of the available supply and do so at attractive prices.
In my view, lithium production dynamics provide a meaningful window of opportunity for junior miners that can bring new lithium projects online quickly. But investors who are considering the lithium space must understand that (a) lithium is not and never will be "the new gasoline," (b) mining projects always take longer and cost more than anyone expects, and (c) extreme caution and careful skeptical analysis are essential.
Cobalt Production Dynamics. According to the Cobalt Development Institute, an incredible 94% of global cobalt supplies come from nickel and copper mines that produce cobalt as a by-product. That means only 6% of global cobalt supplies come from mines that might be able to increase production in response to growing demand from the battery industry.
Every year, the world's nickel miners sell $14.58 billion of nickel and $1.05 billion of cobalt, which means cobalt revenue represents 6.7% of their total revenue. It's even worse with copper miners who sell $68.4 billion of copper and $0.92 billion of cobalt, which means cobalt revenue represents 1.3% of their total revenue.
Expecting the supply side of the cobalt market to respond to the needs of the battery industry is like expecting a cropped tail to wag a Rottweiler.
While global production of refined cobalt surged from 52,400 tons in 2005 to 99,000 tons in 2015, the bulk of the increase was attributable to new capacity from African copper mines. In addition to thorny regulatory issues for companies that buy metals from African miners, metal production from African mines is not necessarily reliable. In 2015, Glencore (OTCPK:GLCNF) produced421,900 tons of copper and 19,400 tons of cobalt from its Katanga, Mutanda and Mopani mines in Africa. In September of last year, Glencore announced the closure of Katanga and Mopani for 18 months as part of a debt reduction and modernization plan. Those closures will temporarily cut cobalt production capacity by several thousand tons.
According to the Cobalt Development Institute, the battery industry uses 41% of global cobalt supplies. Over the next 10 years, that percentage will increase to about 65% unless new cobalt resources are brought into production. While there is limited competition in the global markets for lithium, cobalt is one of the most useful metals going. Critical non-battery uses include:
Superalloys for combustion turbine engines (16%)
Hardened high-speed steel for machine tooling (7%);
Hardened carbides and diamond tooling (10%);
Petroleum desulfuring catalysts (7%);
Pigments (6%);
Magnets (5%); and
Others (8%).
The bottom line is that the cobalt supply chain is entirely dependent on global demand for nickel and copper. To make matters worse, cobalt demand is tremendously inflexible because of (1) the critical nature of alternative uses, and (2) the lower price sensitivity of competitive users. While new primary cobalt mines may come online, exploration, permitting and development for a new metal mine typically involves a decade of work and billions of dollars.
In my view, the battery industry is on the verge of a very unpleasant confrontation with the inescapable realities of the mining industry. The supply side of the cobalt equation is entirely dependent on global demand for nickel and copper. The demand side of the cobalt equation includes a rich variety of competitive manufacturers that need cobalt for products the world considers essential.
Any time rapidly increasing demand crosses swords with inflexible supply, the outcome is substantially higher prices. Since I first wrote about cobalt supply constraints in March of this year, cobalt spot prices have increased by almost 40% as astute investors began to recognize an unavoidable global shortage. Over the next six months, things should get really interesting.
The battery industry itself does have some capacity to free up additional cobalt supplies by phasing out LCO chemistry, which requires 1.44 kg/kWh of cobalt, and reconfiguring LCO plants to manufacture products with NMC or NCA chemistries, which require 0.36 and 0.22 kg/kWh of cobalt, respectively.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall of a meeting where one battery manufacturer tells another, "I want you to stop making LCO batteries so that I can repurpose your supply chain for my business."
BYD and LG Chem currently manufacture LCO batteries and they may be able to repurpose their supply chains to accommodate higher production of low-cobalt batteries. Unless new market entrants like Tesla, Foxconn and Boston Power are quietly reconfiguring their factories to make low-energy LTO, LFP and LMO cells, I see no reasonable possibility that any of them will be able to build a secure cobalt supply chain in the foreseeable future.
Conclusion. In the lithium-ion battery industry, materials costs are 50 to 70 percent of total manufacturing costs, one of the highest ratios on the planet. Prevailing green mythology holds that lithium-ion battery prices will fall dramatically as anticipated production rates soar due to Gigafactories and other vaguely defined "economies of scale." Given the current production dynamics for both lithium and cobalt, increased demand can only lead to higher raw material prices. Since most competitive users of lithium and cobalt are far less sensitive to raw material prices than battery manufacturers, it's a safe bet that they'll protect their supply chains and the battery industry will either have to pay up or do without.
Tesla cannot launch a $35,000 Model 3 without a Gigafactory that's operating at or near its design capacity of 35 GWh per year. That will require about 7,800 tonnes of cobalt per year. Everything I've seen says Tesla doesn't have a cobalt supply chain that can take almost 10% of global cobalt production away from the companies that are presently using the metal.
The bottom line for investors is, "It doesn't matter how big your Gigafactory is if you don't have a rock-solid supply chain for your essential raw materials."
Cobalt!
Regular readers of the financial press know that most energy analysts often focus on two commodities: oil and natural gas.
And that's for good reason...
As far as investment goes, oil and natural gas are two of the biggest moneymakers in the world.
But, these days, I've been taking a different approach.
Mind you, I'm not saying oil and gas are bad investments (they're set up to see huge gains this year, actually), but I feel I wouldn't be doing you justice if I didn't mention the latest commodity I have my eye on.
The truth is, I might be the only one with eyes on it based on what I've seen in the financial press recently.
Anyway, if you're reading this editorial on a laptop or tablet, you use this commodity...
If you watch television, it powers your remote, and if you have smoke detectors in your house (I hope you do), it keeps them ready to warn you if there's a fire.
You probably already realize I'm talking about batteries. But there's a crucial commodity that goes in each of these types of batteries that has dipped into very valuable territory on the open market.
And while many investors and analysts, including myself, are discussing lithium — which is also used in batteries — I'm talking about a commodity that is just as important but that hasn't stuck in popular opinion, for whatever reason.
That commodity is none other than cobalt.
And if you haven't been paying attention to the cobalt market, you're sorely missing out on an incredible opportunity for growth and diversity in your portfolio.
Prices Look Bullish
Cobalt is predominately used in alloys because of its strength and ability to resist corrosion, so, naturally, most of the mined cobalt is used in metallurgy for things like gas turbines and jet engines.
However, cobalt has several other uses including chemical catalysts, gamma radiation, porcelain production, pigmentation for paint and glass, and, of course, batteries, which is why I like it as an investment.
Like I mentioned before, cobalt is an important component of both nickel-cadmium batteries — which are commonly found in children's toys and smoke detectors, among many other things — and lithium-ion batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries give cobalt its most bullish upside because they're the gold standard of rechargeable batteries throughout the world.
They're used in your phone, laptop, tablet, and — if you happen to have one — Tesla Model S electric car.
Most of the world's cobalt comes from the copper belt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, where mining is huge business.
image: https://images.angelpub.com/2015/14/30151/1.png
1
Companies dig up cobalt all over the world, as you can see above, but more than 50% of it comes out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
And political unrest in the African nation creates supply squeezes that affect cobalt prices greatly. Just take a look at the 11-year chart:
image: https://images.angelpub.com/2016/37/40060/cobalt-prices.png
Cobalt Prices
Since the late 1990s, various rebel groups fought civil wars against the government, and the price spike you see in the chart between 2005 and 2009 can be attributed to what's known as the Kivu conflict.
I won't bog you down with the complex geopolitical details, but it's safe to say that strife throughout the nation caused serious damage to the mining industry. The resulting supply squeeze pushed prices above $50 per pound.
As the Kivu conflict ended in 2009, though, you'll see the price begin to drop along with the global recession and stay relatively close to current levels around $12.50 per pound.
This price presents us with an opportunity to buy cobalt at what could be its lowest price for a long time.
You see, early in 2015 tensions flared once again in the DRC, as countrywide protests against president Joseph Kabila broke out. The causes surrounding these protests were addressed, but there's no telling if other protests could rise and lead to more civil war and violence. But if they do, it could create another serious supply squeeze for the commodity.
Of course, a potential civil war is not a reason to invest in cobalt; rather, the metal is becoming so prevalent that it only makes sense to buy now.
Ways to Play Cobalt
I mentioned earlier that Tesla uses cobalt in its lithium-ion batteries for its Model S...
As far as cobalt is concerned, the construction and planned capacity of Tesla's massive Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada shows a bullish future for the commodity.
Tesla uses cobalt in its batteries because it provides a much better driving range, while other companies like Nissan use different, less effective metals.
Once the factory starts mass-producing in 2017, it wouldn't be a surprise to see other carmakers jump on board and start using cobalt as a go-to lithium battery material. The EV market is growing fast, and the competition is nothing short of fierce.
However, I wouldn't suggest an investment in Tesla at this point because the stock price is so high. Instead, I like Panasonic (OTC: PCRFY)because shares are under $10, and the company already partners with Tesla on its batteries.
image: https://images.angelpub.com/2016/37/40061/pcrfy-stock.png
PCRFY StockNot only that, but Panasonic makes lithium-ion and nickel-cadmium batteries for a wide range of other applications, too.
Of course, if you're looking for a more direct play on cobalt, I would suggest Glencore (LSX: GLEN):
image: https://images.angelpub.com/2016/37/40062/glen-stock.png
GLEN StockAs you can see, the company has been on a tear this year! While cobalt isn't its main source of income, the company did produce around 10% of the world's total in 2014. Plus, its mines aren't in the DRC, which means it will garner a higher price for its cobalt if there is a supply squeeze due to political unrest.
I also suggest interested investors check out Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX):
image: https://images.angelpub.com/2016/37/40063/fcx-stock.png
FCX StockThe company's shares also trade under $10, and it too is diversified with other metals and projects besides cobalt.
I suggest you keep your eye on the cobalt market and these three companies in particular as lithium-ion batteries take over the rechargeable electronics market.
Good investing,
Good News & Forward Split Coming!!!
Thank you for your interest in Cruz Capital Corp. (CUZ—TSXv, BKTPF—USA, A2AG5M--Germany). Cruz is actively engaged in acquiring and developing high grade Cobalt assets globally. Cruz has acquired numerous high-grade cobalt assets located in North America. Seven cobalt projects are in Canada and one in Idaho. The goal of the company is to make Cruz the foremost cobalt project generator and developer on the TSX Venture Exchange. Management feels that cobalt is at the early stages of a significant bull market and we are pleased to be positioning Cruz at the forefront of this cycle.
Cruz is focused in politically stable and ethical regions and we plan to FORWARD split the shares. The ratio being proposed will be 3:1. For example, this means that if you are shareholder of record of 10,000 shares you would then hold 30,000 shares upon completion and approval of the split.
Inline image 1
Here are two links to recent articles reporting about the mining of cobalt in Africa. As you can see this is why we are focused on developing and acquiring high-grade projects in politically safe and responsible governments.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/classic-apps/the-cobalt-pipeline-from-dangerous-tunnels-in-congo-to-consumers-mobile-tech/2016/09/30/66103382-5a8c-11e6-9767-f6c947fd0cb8_story.html?tid=hybrid_collaborative_1_na-amp
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/business/economy/companies-respond-to-questions-about-their-cobalt-supply-chains/2016/09/30/910f94de-7b51-11e6-bd86-b7bbd53d2b5d_story.html%3f0p19G=e?client=safari
cobalt graphic.png
· Cruz has recently acquired 8 separate cobalt prospects across North America
· The Bucke Cobalt Prospect returned assays of 13% Cobalt and 240 grams per tonne silver (historic data)
· The Johnson Cobalt Prospect encountered grab assays over 300m up to 10.5% cobalt, 69 g/t AG, 12% NI and .4% CU (historic data)
· The War Eagle Prospect encountered surface samples of 6.41% cobalt, 3.59% nickel and 7.25% copper (historic data)
· Cobalt is one of the main elements in Lithium-Ion batteries
· Cruz currently only has approximately 14 million shares outstanding
· Seasoned Expert, Fritz ten Doornkaat of Switzerland has been added as a strategic European adviser
· Cobalt prices have increased significantly over the past 6 months and appear to be breaking out
Most Recent news from Cruz:
Cruz Capital Corp (CUZ:TSXv, BKTPF:USA, A2AG5M:Germany) is pleased to announce that the company has increased its cobalt property holdings by 36 claim units from the initial 1.25 units, now comprising approximately 1480 contiguous acres. The Bucke Cobalt Prospect is one of 4 cobalt prospects in Ontario, currently held by Cruz.
The Bucke Cobalt Prospect consists of approximately 1480 acres in the Larder Lake mining division of Ontario. According to Province of Ontario Mineral file MDl31M05NE00117, the property returned assays grading 13% COBALT and 240 g/t SILVER on this cobalt-focused prospect. Management expects to commence exploration on this property shortly, utilizing the flow through funds already on hand to fully assess this property.
Cruz President, James Nelson, stated, "We are very pleased to significantly expand this Cobalt primary project. The Bucke Cobalt Project is one of 4 we have in Ontario, which we believe to have good exploration potential based on the Ontario mineral documents on file. We are excited to start the work program shortly to test the property and to follow-up on historical information provided by the Province of Ontario, relating to the property area. We also plan to FORWARD split the shares in mid-November. Cruz is coming into a very active time on our projects while cobalt prices are making 6 month highs. Recently there have been articles, such as one in the Washington Post, referencing cobalt mined in Africa by children in unsafe conditions. Cruz has 8 projects in North America with prospective cobalt geology in politically stable and ethical jurisdictions. Management believes that cobalt is in the earliest stages of a long term boom as the demand for lithium-ion batteries will continue to grow. The Tesla lithium-ion battery used in their electric vehicles uses cobalt as an important component in their battery. With cobalt being a key mineral in lithium-ion batteries, and world demand rising for this market, we anticipate cobalt prices to increase given no new cobalt mines have come into production in the last 45 years in North America, thus giving Cruz a distinct advantage being a first mover into the space."
Cruz is also proposing a Forward Split subject to acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange. The ratio being proposed will be 3:1. For example, this means that if you are shareholder of record of 10,000 shares you would then hold 30,000 shares upon completion and approval of the split. Subject to such approval, the Company anticipates the record date to be approximately November 14. An announcement will be made once the final date has been confirmed by the exchange. Management feels that this split will be a positive event for the company as this will create greater liquidity for the shareholders, thus enabling a more transparent and consistent market.
Cruz is actively engaged in acquiring and developing Cobalt assets globally and has already acquired several high-grade cobalt projects across North America. Seven cobalt projects are located in Canada and one in Idaho. The goal of the company is to make Cruz the foremost cobalt project generator and developer on the TSX Venture Exchange. Management feels that cobalt is at the early stages of a significant bull market and we are pleased to be positioning Cruz at the forefront of this cycle. This new acreage was acquired via staking.
The technical contents of this release were approved by Greg Thomson, PGeo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The property has not been the subject of a National Instrument 43-101 report.
If you would like to be added to Cruz’s email list please send an email to info@cruzcapitalcorp.comor twitter @CruzCapitalCorp
James Nelson
President
604.899.9150
www.cruzcapitalcorp.com
twitter @CruzCapitalCor
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