";s:4:"text";s:4929:"The estimated replacement value of the refinery alone is three times First Cobalt's entire Enterprise Value! Last year there were over 100 cobalt juniors listed in North America alone. Sourcing cobalt from North America is becoming more important by the day. However, increased demand for EV LIBs growth is powering the industry.Lithium isn’t the only element used in producing LIBs. The market for natural resources remains subdued, but there are pockets of strength.
If the market is going up, a higher exposure to the upside from a high-beta stock can push up your portfolio return. As mentioned, the price was > US$40/lb less than 12 months ago. But on the other hand, the dividend yield has increased to a stro… The U.S. is not low on cobalt supply it has NO domestic cobalt supply!In addition to controlling ~45% of the past-producing Cobalt, Ontario, Cobalt-Silver camp, First Cobalt owns 100% of a fully permitted, primary cobalt refinery. However, unlike for mining projects, the company does not need to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. This one has a resource (26.9 million tonnes) that will be upsized by up to 50% (my guess only) this quarter. Management says the refinery can be monetized (cash flowing) in 1824 months. I believe there are fewer than 10 cobalt names worth looking at.One of 2017's blue chip cobalt juniors that I think has ample room for upside (again) this year is That's a big problem, but only for readers who believe that cobalt will remain below US$15/lb. I'm a big fan of copper, the world cannot have an energy revolution (clean/green renewable energy sources), or the electrification of passenger and commercial transportation, or the building and rebuilding of critical infrastructure, without Copper.I said that there are 10 or fewer cobalt juniors worth looking at. With a beta of 2.03, First Cobalt is a stock that tends to experience more gains than the market during a growth phase and also a bigger reduction in value compared to the market during a broad downturn. According to this value of beta, FCC can help magnify your portfolio return, especially if it is predominantly made up of low-beta stocks.
The price was >US$40/lb less than 12 months ago, and at US$25/lb less than three months ago.For those fearing that cobalt is being engineered out of electric vehicle (EV) batteries due to high cost and/or security of supply concerns, they are only partially correct. Cobalt is an important material for some of the fastest-growing energy storage applications, but does it belong in your portfolio?
By contrast, there are a number of Australian nickel-cobalt deposits that have the tonnage but lower grades than we have at Iron Creek. The 8.1.1 chemistry is nickel-manganese-cobalt in the ratio of 8:1:1.Cobalt was designated a strategic mineral in the U.S. and in many other countries. Bushveld Minerals, a vanadium player, trades at 6.2x, Katanga Mining, a copper-cobalt producer with operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, trades at 6.4x. Learn more about In other words, grade is worthless without sufficient tonnage. That funding should be achievable through a combination of debt, equity, streaming/royalty financing, and/or selling a portion of the asset.Nearly 1,000 words in and I haven't discussed First Cobalt's flagship project, Iron Creek in Idaho (U.S.). Combined, that's 81% annual capacity utilization. SQM, a large lithium producer, trades at 4.8x. That suggests the possibility of a much larger resource. In copper, Trilogy Metals and Pacific Booker are up an average of ~250%. According to this value of beta, FCC can help magnify your portfolio return, especially if it is predominantly made up of low-beta stocks.
If the market is going up, a higher exposure to the upside …