Poseidon - One Stop Battery Shop

Well now POStars, let’s take a few minutes to ponder a few things…

As some of you may have noticed the Cobalt spot price has been on the rise for a while now and the local explorers are heating up with much investor interest. The recent IPO listing of Cobalt Blue was largely oversubscribed and the majority of other Australian producers and explorers are seeing similar interest.



One reason behind this trend is the same as it was with Graphite and Lithium. It is all about energy storage and batteries… Cobalt is yet another ingredient for Lithium Ion batteries and a big growth catalyst is of course Telsa’s Gigafactory. With their future production growth of Powerwalls and Electric vehicles set to sky rocket.

What troubles some observers, however, is that Cobalt and Nickel are susceptible to greater supply-chain risks because of the countries that control the resources. It's not a physical scarcity risk, but there are supply risks that could affect the price not just of Lithium but also Cobalt, Manganese and Nickel. Cobalt in particular has a precarious supply chain since half the current reserve comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there is an uncertain legal framework, corruption and a lack of transparency.

When it comes to investing in the future of commodities, forget about resources such as Iron Ore and Coal, which dominated the industrial economies of the old world order. The new currency for smart commodity investors will be Cobalt, which is poised to play a growing role in everyone’s life if the vision of American billionaire Elon Musk to have a Tesla Motors battery powering homes comes to fruition.

So why am I talking about Cobalt on the POS forum??? Are we not a Nickel miner... Ahemm… explorer… Oh wait! Lithium explorer… Local Handy Hire! I am not really sure anymore.

But whatever we are it does not really matter because ALL of these minerals are required to produce Lithium Ion batteries. Experts believe that Lithium-ion battery production is more likely to be constrained by Cobalt or Nickel supplies than by Lithium availability.

So where do you find Cobalt?

Well the main source of the element is as a by-product of Copper and Nickel mining. Cobalt in a compound form occurs as a minor component of Copper and Nickel minerals.

Now, can anyone tell me if there is any historic evidence of Cobalt being produced as a by-product from any of Poseidon’s mines?

Could this help reduce the start-up cost with an offset to the current price of Nickel?

As this is my first attempt at providing anything meaningful to the POS thread your expert opinions, critical outbursts, and jovial jests are all welcome.

MC