cobalt up 50 per cent

Dear All

This has the effect of reducing MRE's cost of production.

Regards Eos

Cobalt prices explode
By Tom Stundza
Purchasing
November 29, 2006

Confirmation that Norilsk Nickel of Russia will supply OM Group of Cleveland with cobalt metals for the next five years has pushed market prices nearly 50% over the last two weeks. Under the supply agreement, Norilsk will supply OM Group with 2,500 metric tons/year of cobalt metal, 2,500 metric tons/year of crude cobalt hydroxide concentrate and up to 1,500 metric tons/year of crude cobalt sulfate. The supply agreement also includes a variety of nickel-based raw materials used in OMG’s electronic chemicals business. This has pushed the end-of-the-month world spot price of cobalt metal to $25/lb from $17 in mid-November.