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COBALTECH ACQUIRES PRODUCTION FACILITY NEAR ITS COBALT PROPERTIES

By Gregory Reynolds, Mining Life

Oct 11, 2017

 

CobalTech Mining Inc. has gotten the jump on its competitors in the cobalt field by acquiring a processing plant in the Northeastern Ontario community of North Cobalt that is close to its cobalt mineral properties.

This acquisition enables CobalTech to become one of the first companies in North America to be able to process and refine cobalt. The processing facility is currently fully permitted and production may be expanded to a maximum of 4000t/day before additional permitting is required.

The company conducted full site visits with the engineering firm, Story Environmental of New Liskeard, Ontario. It has been responsible for all environmental monitoring and permitting for the last 10 years, and also assisted in the process and provided copies of the compliance reports and various permits.

Under the terms of the LOI signed Feb. 10th, 2017, the company has the option to buy the refinery. The seller remains responsible for debts resulting from previous operations.

“This acquisition will position CobalTech ahead of its competition in supplying the growing demand for ethically sourced cobalt,” commented Bruce Braganolo, chairman of CobalTech.

“CobalTech’s vision of being one the first companies to process cobalt in North America is taking a major advancement with the purchase of this facility. This completes the goal of vertical integration from an operations standpoint. CobalTech will now be assessing whether to proceed alone or actively start looking for a strategic partner to help advance the project,” said Antoine Fournier, president and CEO of CobalTech.

A bonus for mining companies seeking the mineral cobalt in and around the Town of Cobalt is the existence of large stockpiles left behind after extraction during 1905-1968.

CobalTech is the owner of the past producing Duncan Kerr Property and related production facilities and equipment located in the area around the historic silver-cobalt producing Town of Cobalt

This area is host to a geological setting responsible for a unique mineralization type composed of quartz-carbonate veins enriched in silver-cobalt-nickel-bismuth-arsenic.

The Duncan Kerr Project is comprised of a 32.3 hectare property hosting the past producing Kerr Lake and Lawson Mines, multiple above-ground stockpiles, and a fully permitted milling facility.

It is estimated that an additional 1.3 million tonnes of stockpiles exist on the property.

CobalTech is working toward becoming a major cobalt miner and producer, supplying the growing North American battery market. The company aims to obtain 100% ownership of mineral deposits and processing facilities, giving it the ability to deliver a ground to market business.

The Duncan Kerr Project was acquired in November 2016. This acquisition encompasses all assets of this 32.3 hectare property, including the existing stockpiles and milling facility.

On Feb. 15, 2017 CobalTech announced that it had acquired additional strategically located properties around Duncan Kerr that increased by 8-fold the total area of prospective ground under its control. Company holdings total 264 hectares,

This new property is adjacent to the Duncan Kerr and was host to the historic Drummond, Conisil, Hargraves, Belmont, Silver Cross, Campbell-Crowford, Juno, Airgiod and Silver Bird Mines. The 9 had an estimated total output of 4.55 million ounces of silver and 253,000 pounds of cobalt while all at production depths never exceeding 186m from surface.

The Conisil Mine is believed to have been one of the last mines to be nearing production in Cobalt, before the price of silver collapsed in the mid-eighties and the camp fell dormant.

An independent mineral resource study prepared in 2014 by Golder Associated Ltd. estimated 6,588 dry metric tonnes of crushed material resources contained in the 3 above ground stockpiles (at an estimated average grade of 761 g/t and 95% Co).

Management estimates that an additional 1.3 million tonnes of stockpiles exist on the property and require further drilling. Historical drilling depths on the property have not exceeded 182 m depth, leaving ample exploration targets.

The milling infrastructure consists of a fully permitted 360 tpd milling facility with a gravity and flotation circuit (expandable to 500 tpd) that is stored on the property site.

This area was made famous by mineral discoveries that opened the way for the prolific Timmins and Kirkland Mining Camps. The area surrounding the Town of Cobalt is known for its unique geological setting responsible for a unique mineralization type composed of quartz-carbonate veins enriched in silver-cobalt-nickel-bismuth-arsenic, and to date 464.9 million oz. silver have been produced in Cobalt.

The property hosts the past-producing Kerr Lake and Lawson mines, which operated between 1905 and 1966 and produced approximately 32.7 million oz. silver as well as significant cobalt as a by-product.

The surrounding infrastructure includes access to a municipal road, highways, railway spurs, power, and ample fresh water supply.

CobalTech has announced positive results from the due diligence samples collected during a recent property visit on the Duncan Kerr Project. CobalTech has successfully identified high-grade cobalt and silver. Three of the four samples reached the upper instrumental assay limits for cobalt and were re-assayed using a higher limit method to adequately quantify the cobalt content of these rocks.

Silver content is usually very erratic on this type of deposit and these samples were selected to try to estimate a background value. It is interesting to note that even the “barren” material returned positive silver grades, the company says.

Fournier said: “Although the intent was to gain an honest appraisal of the project, we were very pleased to see that cobalt grades were above detection limits for the 3 samples with visible mineralization.

These are samples coming from rock piles lying directly at surface on the property. CobalTech will now put together a plan of action to evaluate the surface potential of the project.”