Ann: Media - BML Kicks off Li-Ta Exploration Program-BML.AX, page-14

and cobalt

Cobalt supply tightens as battery demand looms
Political tensions amidst the wider slump in global commodity markets, look set to continue the onslaught on cobalt production in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) moving into H2 2016.
Cobalt production in the DRC, home to over 60% of the world’s mined output, is estimated to have fallen by over 20% in Q1 2016 in reaction to falling copper prices.
Now, as battery consumers begin to increase efforts to lock in cobalt chemical supplies for production expansions due to begin as early as next year, the country faces more upheaval as political pressures rise on the incumbent leader, President Joseph Kabila.
Kabila has failed to confirm national Presidential elections following the end of his constitutionally limited two terms in charge, leading to heightened political tensions within a country which has suffered from ongoing civil war since the mid-1990s.
From a cobalt perspective, this is likely to cast more doubt over the sustainability of supplies from the country’s struggling mining sector which has suffered significantly at the hands of the global decline in commodity prices.
At a time when cobalt production is expected to require significant increases, copper mines, from which cobalt is produced as a by-product, are being taken offline – the most prominent of which, Glencore’s Katanga copper mine, is now expected by some analysts to remain inactive past the 18-month suspension period outlined in 2015.
This intensifies the debate around where lithium ion battery producers will source the raw material for the cobalt-based cathodes which are expected to lead the increases in battery demand post-2017, with greater uptake of electrified vehicles.
According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence forecasts, three-quarters of lithium-ion battery cathode capacities are expected to contain some volume of cobalt by 2020, with NCA and NMC cathodes benefitting from the growth in automotive battery applications.