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Tuesday, June 12, 2018

.@Cobalt27Capital Acquires US$300MM #Cobalt Stream on @Valeglobal’s #VoiseysBay $KBLT

@Cobalt27Capital & $WPM will provide Vale an aggregate of US$690 million in upfront proceeds for a combined purchase of finished cobalt equal to 75% of Voisey's Bay cobalt production commencing January 1, 2021.


Cobalt 27 ($KBLT) Acquires US$300MM Cobalt Stream on Vale’s Voisey’s Bay Mine Expansion and Announces C$300MM Bought Deal Offering of Common Shares To Fund Stream Acquisition

  • Vale will deliver to Cobalt 27, an amount of finished cobalt equal

    to 32.6% of the cobalt production from Voisey’s Bay commencing January

    1, 2021.
  • Once an aggregate of approximately 10.8kt (23.8mmlb) of cobalt has

    been delivered to Cobalt 27, which would occur once Voisey's Bay cobalt

    production after January 1, 2021 reaches approximately 33.1kt

    (73.0mmlb), the proportion of cobalt production delivered to Cobalt 27

    will reduce to 16.3%. 
  • Cobalt 27 will pay Vale cash consideration of US$300 million upon closing.
  • Cobalt 27 will make ongoing payments (the "Ongoing Payments") equal

    to 18% of the Cobalt Reference Price for each pound of cobalt delivered

    under the Cobalt Stream, until Cobalt 27 has recovered the full value

    of the Advance Amount through Vale's deliveries of finished cobalt under

    the Cobalt Stream. After this time, the Ongoing Payments will increase

    to 22% of the Cobalt Reference Price.
#Cobalt27 Acquires US$300MM #Cobalt Stream on #Vale’s #VoiseysBay $KBLT:

from The MasterMetals Blog

@MasterMetals

Monday, June 11, 2018

#Cobalt prices fall to lowest in 2018 as #China #Battery makers have plenty…for now $KBLT

- #Cobalt fell last week to its lowest since January, down more than 20% from April peak
- squeeze in cashflow for Chinese cobalt refiners has contributed to a fall in prices

Cobalt battery boom wavers as prices slide in top user China

SHANGHAI – Cobalt is facing its first major test since an impending demand boom from electric vehicles triggered a two-year surge, with prices retreating in top consumer China amid signs there's still enough material to go around.

The price for cobalt sulfate – the chemical form used in car batteries and consumer electronics – fell last week to its lowest since January, and is down more than 20% from an April peak, according to researcher Asian Metal. Meanwhile, benchmark cobalt metal is also softening after reaching the highest level in a decade earlier this year, Metal Bulletin data show.

While demand from the expanding electric vehicle industry is still on course to rise rapidly in coming years, a lull in purchasing by battery makers suggests the market is not yet short of supply. "The current atmosphere in China has gone fairly bearish recently, certainly around chemical demand," Caspar Rawles, analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said in an interview.

Cobalt has attracted a wave of investor attention as global manufacturers make more cars powered by cobalt-reliant batteries, rather than combustion engines. The material mined mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has rocketed in price on fears there won't be enough supply to satisfy the structural shift in demand. The prospect of a shortage poses one of the top risks to carmakers' plans for electrification, Bloomberg New Energy Finance wrote last month.

Prices for sulfate, which is delivered in the form of a coarse salt, are still more than 200% higher than two years ago. But the recent slide points to a changing dynamic, at least in the short term.

Various factors are a drag on sulfate at the moment, according to researcher Shanghai Metals Market. One is that battery makers are not placing big orders for cathode supplies in the third quarter, and a second is that traders holding sulfate were spooked by falling global prices and decided to sell. Finally, there's speculation supply is being bolstered by more recycling, where the mineral is extracted from old phone batteries or other cobalt-rich waste.

NO SHORTAGE
"The weak demand is the most important among these three factors," said Hong Hengan, Shanghai-based cobalt analyst at SMM. "We don't really see any demand gap that needs to be filled for now. We see the market in surplus at the moment, no matter whether it's the metal or the chemical form."

Benchmark Mineral's Rawles said rapid investment by Chinese companies in processing plants for cobalt may have contributed to oversupply of sulfate.

To be sure, there are upside price risks. A new mining code in the DRC, which has drawn complaints from producers, may slow the addition of new capacity, Citigroup wrote in a note. The bank is also "constructive" on the outlook for demand and prices in the second half, it said.

Global prices are set by cobalt metal, which unlike sulfate is not generally used in batteries. Benchmark metal prices slid for a sixth week through Friday, according to Metal Bulletin data, retreating from the highest since 2008 in April.

Bloomberg via Mining Weekly 

Bit.ly/PangeaBlog

Sunday, June 3, 2018

#Mining co’s increase #exploration spending as financings have raised +77% more $ in 2017 vs. 2016-size of the ask was larger, up 25%.

Metal prices, financing, exploration and assays are all up | MINING.com
Miners are responding to a rosier metal outlook by increasing spending on exploration and releasing more assay results.

Metal prices, financing, exploration and assays are all up

Miners are responding to a rosier metal outlook by increasing spending on exploration and releasing more assay results.

Base metal prices are up. Copper bounced off its 2015 nadir of $4,500 a tonne and in the last few months has found a range of $6,600 to $6,700 a tonne, a metal price that ING says is good level to sustain investment. Nickel is on a tear. It jumped to $15,340 a tonne today, its highest close since January 2015

With better metal prices miners are asking for more money. In 2017 miners sought financing totalling $39B compared to $22B in 2016 according to data from Mining Intelligence. Amounts are compiled from publicly-traded companies worldwide that declared intentions to raise funds.

The size of the ask was larger, too. The average funding request was up 25% over the past two years.



Juniors and miners are exploring.

Global mining exploration is expected to increase 15% to 20% year-over-year.

In Canada the exploration spend has grown 37% in the last two years, and total exploration spend in 2018 is forecast at $2.2B.



And consequently more core is heading to the lab.

The number of projects worldwide with assay results increased 57% in 2017 over the previous year.



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Creative commons image of diver by Ollie Harridge.

See the article online on mining.com here: http://www.mining.com/metal-prices-financings-exploration-assay-results/