Re: Commodities/cobalt

This link is to a relevant article.....http://www.miningweekly.com/article...y-fundamentals-despite-uncertainty-2017-03-07

To quote re Cobalt:
"COBALT
CRU Group multicommodity projects and information andknowledge management director Paul Robinson agreed with Butcher that the macroeconomic outlook has improved, boosted by cautious market optimism.
He noted that the CRU basket of 36 mining, metals and fertiliser price forecasts is expected to rise 12% this year, with cobalt, copper and zinc are expected to outperform. “Cobalt leads a country mile while metallurgical coal is off the pace,” he said. Cobalt demand is expected to gain 5.2% this year,copper 2.2% and zinc 2.6%.
The cobalt price is expected to gain 60% in 2017; copper 7%; zinc 6%; and aluminium 2%. “Cobalt is the commodity that has almost all things investors want to see in a commodity play,” he advised."

Nickel:
"NICKEL
CRU Group’s New York-based principal consultant Alex Laugharne outlined a stronger medium-term outlook for nickel, which gained about 11% in the 12 months to December 2016. He noted that prices had been driven down by persistent oversupply and a substantial stock overhang.
London Metals Exchange (LME) inventories of nickel are high, with about one-billion tonnes in storage, despite a modest inventory drawdown starting January last year.
Meanwhile, more than half of nickel producers have been cash negative as costs rise and prices decline.
The nickel price has been volatile, ranging between $8 500/t and nearly $12 000/t in the past 12 months, with recent price swings mainly driven by policy instability in major producersIndonesia and the Philippines. Indonesia has imposed newexport rules relaxing certain beneficiation requirements and allowing low-grade nickel ore to be exported, while thePhilippines has closed many operations on environmentalgrounds.
The market is expected to be balanced in 2017, with prices improving towards the $15 000/t level in years to come, as greater supply deficits emerge."

Copper:
COPPER
"Copper has broken out of a six-year downtrend – the longest on record – ending 2016 strong and seeing further gains so far this year, said Michael Schwartz of Canada’s Teck Minerals. He noted that the low price had affected the miningindustry and its services industries severely, with impacts to be felt for years to come.
Prices have fallen into the cost curve, driving spending cuts. Prices have reached the ninetieth percentile of C1-plus-sustaining-costs against the LME copper price range, with cuts on sustaining and expansion capital expected to limit mid-term growth.
Output growth is expected to contract 4% this year, with 5% of capacity disruption already under way. In 2017, five mines will make up 83% of growth, with the two largest mines currently under suspension.
By 2020, a further 1.1-million tonnes will be added, with 80% coming from five mines and one greenfield project, Cobre Panama, which he said is really the last new project to come on stream for the foreseeable future.
Schwartz foresees a structural deficit emerging in 2019, noting that projects delayed today will not be ready by 2020 to fill the gap. By 2024, the supply gap could widen to more than five-million pounds."

I do not see BCL itself becoming cashed up if a bidder comes in......I imagine the incomer will have their own "clean" vehicle and may pick the eyes out of some assets and mine those seen as viable, whilst using the smelter as was done in the past. This would likely be beneficial to BML.

For those looking at lithium as a saver or new direction to back into following sobering article is worth reading.

Regards all.