Cobalt Predicted to crack over a $ 100,000 per tonne .Bring on...

Cobalt Predicted to crack over a  $ 100,000 per tonne .Bring on the News Flow CTM !!!
‘Co-balter’ set for further gains as China continues campaign to hoover battery metals
16th March 2018
Tim Treadgold
A whiff of takeover activity livened up an already fully-charged battery metals sector during the week with lithium stocks moving higher but with even more interesting off-market action in cobalt that could have set the scene for roof-raising cobalt boom over the next few months.

Already one of the world’s highest priced metals at $US84,000 a tonne cobalt, seems certain to soon top the magic $100,000/t mark thanks to a deal which has seen China snap up the lion’s share of an essential battery component.

Not widely reported, yet, a Chinese company called GEM this week signed a deal with Swiss-based Glencore for 50,000 tonnes of cobalt over the next three years, an amount equivalent to half of the world’s cobalt output last year.

Glencore, with its extensive interests in Africa, is the world’s biggest cobalt producer.

Most of the material being acquired from Glencore will end up in Chinese electric vehicles (EV) as car makers in that country rush to take control of the EV industry, displacing long-term leaders of the car business such as Volkswagen, Toyota and Ford.

The size of the game being played in battery metals, and a reason for Australian investors to remain attuned to developments, was also outlined during the week when Volkswagen unveiled plans to build three million EVs a year by 2025.

With every major car maker now committed to adding EVs to its offering, a race has developed for supplies of essential raw materials, which is why China has stitched up a deal with Glencore and battery metal companies are emerging as takeover targets as well as investment partners.