-That’s because “in many ways the cobalt industry has the most fragile supply structure of all battery raw materials.”
- However, while market participants have certainly begun to recognize cobalt’s importance to the battery supply chain, “deals to supply the upcoming battery capacity expansions have been slower than initially thought.”
-On that note, Berry highlighted Glencore’s (LSE:GLEN) plan to cut 400,000 tonnes of copper production from its African operations. That “will also take roughly 15 percent of global cobalt production offline,” he said.
- Case in point: Berry said that demand for cobalt should “continue to grow well above global GDP” in 2016, while supply should continue to shrink. Catalysts for that will be “more copper and nickel production coming offline where cobalt is a by-product.” All in all, these factors “should support higher cobalt prices.”
Although BAR makes it's money in safety from gold royalty, as per 6th may 2009 asx announcement....
As previously announced in January this year, initial studies have identified the potential for Mt Thirsty to be catapulted into the world’s top five cobalt producers within its first few years of production. An independent study by Perth-based metallurgical and engineering consultancy, Simulus, found that the cobaltnickel-manganese deposit, 20 kilometres northwest of Norseman, could readily produce 3,700 tonnes of cobalt, 10,300 tonnes of nickel and 27,000 tonnes of manganese per annum in its first three years. This would immediately rank it the fourth largest cobalt producer in the world.
BAR Price at posting:
1.8¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
