Nickel-Cobalt
There're some interesting feeds about cobalt's scarcity while nickel explorers are being pressured by Indonesia's intervention.
Cobalt is a by product of nickel. Without nickel no cobalt
Mlx is world class nickel-cobalt explorer/producer in the boder of wa-nt. The company said it will look closely at prevailing nickel price to ramp up nickel-cobalt.
Nickel is still a short target and mlx is a better place to hide with strong value play compare to wsa, igo and other small explorers.
Nickel players should be backed by Trump's supports for the US high tech companies especially Auto industry with the icon "made in usa"
Cheap li-ion or EV batteries are not good solutions in light of Samsung's dammaged reputation for its ill fate note7 so nothing could replace the niche materials graphite-cobalt-lithium regardless batteries sizes.
Cobalt recovery ratio in nickel is low.
Mlx's reserves contain 1.56 mt of nickel and 122,000 t co that is to indicate cobalt is rare and price should exacerbates greatly compare to abundant graphite and lithium but I think those niche materials will have a long way to run.
I did look at sim metals which is having plays in the US but it's very hard to recycle cobalt in li-on batteries and the complexity of EV batteries. It's uneconomic because of labor costs rather than energy consumptions
Tin
Company installed ore shorting machine that will sure boost its ore extraction in Rentail extension where reserves contain 100,000 t of sn and 50,000 t of cu.
The company said it's a strong economic sense at today tin price and copper price (IMO)
Copper reserves will make tin a more viable project with reduced operation costs in the future with added reserves
Cobalt recovery rate in copper is lower than in nickel but I think cobalt recovery rate in Rentail extension should be higher because cobalt is found mostly at multiple metals plays.
What's about tin inventory
Company said it's accumulated 30,000 t of sn at today tin price at 29,000 per tonne.
Mlx should be re-rated and a stock to hold for a long, long time.
MLX Price at posting:
80.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)