Cobalt: A Critical Metal to Clean Energy - Thursday, September 8, 2011
Cobalt has been used as a pigment in glass and porcelain for centuries. Most notably it was used to create that distinctive blue color in fine china. Other than that, cobalt was mainly seen as a byproduct of mining copper and nickel ore. The bulk of cobalt production has been from the Copperbelt in central Africa since the 1970s. But when Zaire (Now the Democratic Republic of Congo) had political strife in 1976, cobalt production was all but cut off. The price of cobalt skyrocketed. As a result, most manufacturers found alternatives to cobalt and demand at the time waned somewhat for the blue metal.
(Courtesy: Financial Times) But cobalt is making a comeback. Aerospace and green technologies have introduced a slew of new applications for cobalt. According to the Department of Energy, cobalt can’t be as easily replaced this time around… Cobalt: One of 14 Critical Metals to Clean Energy In December of 2010, The U.S. Department of Energy outlined its “Critical Materials Strategy.” Cobalt is one of 14 elements defined as a critical metal to clean energy over the next 5-15 years. Nine of these 14 are classified as rare-earth elements. The DOE sees cobalt as such a critical metal because of its use in lithium ion batteries. The DOE predicts that each electric- powered vehicle (PHEVs and EVs) will demand 9.4 kg of cobalt. That doesn’t even include all of the cell phones, tablets and laptops that will continue to use lithium ion batteries. Cobalt is also a significant ingredient in Nickel Cadmium and NiMH rechargeable batteries. Besides the demand for cobalt from batteries, the other critical use for the metal is in superalloys. Cobalt superalloys are used extensively in military aerospace engineering. Because of the resistance to heat and corrosion the cobalt superalloy is particularly useful for gas turbine engines. Other industrial uses of cobalt include: As a binding agent in steel-belted tires Used in magnets Desulfurization of crude oil Liquid-to-natural gas production Electroplating Although cobalt doesn’t get a ton of press, it’s a pretty important metal in this day and age. Even if we don’t realize it, the U.S. government seems to. ‘A Debilitating Impact’ on the U.S. MIT’s technology review reported that U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks last year mention an African cobalt mine. According to the report, The Department of Homeland Security claimed that the single mine is so important that it’s “incapacitation or destruction… would have a debilitating impact” on the national economy and U.S. security. Considering the volatile state of Africa’s political scene, it’s not very reassuring. But since only 15 percent of U.S. consumption of cobalt is via recycled metals, the United States relies on 85 percent of its cobalt from foreign sources. Something else that isn’t reassuring for Americans – 40 percent of all cobalt production is from African mines, and 99 percent of that African cobalt is processed and sold by the Chinese. Much like the rare earth metals, China has a virtual grapple hold on cobalt production. The U.S. hasn’t mined cobalt since 1971 and hasn’t processed it since 1985. Much like rare earth materials, China used its cheap labor and lack of environmental regulation to undercut the competition. But that is starting to change this year. Cobalt Projects and Producers While the cobalt exposure is diversified with gold and copper, it’s also subject to the volatile political climate in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’d be wise for investors to keep an eye on this developing industry and world news that affects it over the next few years. Good investing -
Caledonia Mining Announces Cobalt Off-take Agreement with Large Chinese Refiner Toronto, Ontario - January 29, 2008:
Caledonia Mining Corporation - ("Caledonia") (TSX: CAL, NASDAQ-OTCBB: CALVF and AIM: CMCL) is pleased to announce the signing of a cobalt off-take agreement with a large Chinese refiner. Under the terms of the agreement, Caledonia will supply a minimum of 21,000 tonnes of cobalt metal equivalent in the form of cobalt hydroxide from its Nama Cobalt Project over the next six years. The agreement specifies that the price shall be based on the published monthly average for 99..3% cobalt from the London Metal Exchange, and contains a guaranteed "Take or Pay" minimum cobalt price of US$12/lb of cobalt metal. The agreement is renewable.
CALVF has some advantages with comparison to USA and Canada - e.g., low taxes; Corporate Income tax at 25% - lower labour cost but a happy work force :-) Indigenisation program Mugabe talked about for 20 years - but the leading Peoples opposition don't want - year 2015 is a deadline - self declared king pin Mugabe 88yrs old is sadly in serious cancer sickness - Blanket Gold Mines Project - the capacity of the secondary and tertiary crushers was increased to over 2,000 tpd and the capacity of the rod mills was increased to 1,800 tpd. The product from the regrind mill is pumped into a carbon in leach ("CIL") plant consisting of eight, 600 cubic meter leach tanks equipped with 45 kW agitators where leaching at 50% solids and simultaneous adsorption of dissolved gold onto activated carbon takes place. The CIL plant has a design capacity of 3,800 tonnes of milled ore per day. Elution of the gold from the loaded carbon and electro winning is done on site. Gold is deposited onto wire wool cathodes, the loaded cathodes are acid-digested and the resultant gold solids are smelted to produce gold bullion of approximately 90% purity, prior to Blanket exporting it directly to Rand Refinery in South Africa for final refining and sale. The full proceeds of sale (i.e. before payment of any royalty) are paid to Blanket's foreign currency account with a commercial bank within approximately 7 days of receipt of the gold by Rand Refineries. http://www.caledoniamining.com/blanket3test2.php