Fortune Minerals Provides Summary of Key Highlights of the Recent Cobalt Institute Cobalt Market Report 2021
May 19 2022 - 11:37AM
Business Wire
Transition to Electric Vehicles driving year on
year and projected cobalt demand growth
Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX: FT) (OTCQB: FTMDF)
(“Fortune” or the “Company”)
(www.fortuneminerals.com) is pleased to provide a summary of the
key highlights from the Cobalt Institute’s (“CI”) Cobalt
Market Report 2021 (access report here) released this week. The CI
is a trade organization promoting the sustainable and responsible
production and use of cobalt with member companies comprised of
producers, developers, users, traders, and recyclers of cobalt
metals and chemicals. The Cobalt Market Report 2021 confirms
cobalt’s essential role in diverse industrial applications, and
particularly as an enabler of the green economy transition and
innovation of rechargeable battery technologies supporting
accelerating global electric vehicle (“EV”) sales. Fortune’s
NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Project (“NICO Project”) is
a Canadian, vertically integrated, Critical Minerals development
and one of the few cobalt assets in the world that can be developed
in the timeframe needed to meet today’s cathode chemistries in
rechargeable batteries used in EV’s, portable electronics and
stationary storage cells.
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Robin Goad, Fortune’s President and CEO, commented, “The
transition to a low carbon economy is picking up as world leaders
adopt net zero targets and efforts grow to transform the automotive
industry to electric vehicles. The Cobalt Institute’s Cobalt Market
Report 2021 is an independently authored and comprehensive analysis
of the essential role cobalt plays in the growing green
economy.”
Cobalt Market Report 2021 Highlights:
- 31,600 metric tonne (“Mt”) (22%) year on year
(“y/y”) demand growth to 175,000 Mt
- Estimated market value of US$8.4 billion;
- Projected 12.7% CAGR demand growth to 320,000 Mt by 2026;
- Lithium-ion batteries accounted for 65% of cobalt demand with
85% y/y growth;
- EV’s are now the largest cobalt end use with 34% of market
demand;
- Sales of battery electric and plug-in hybrid EV’s totaled 6.7
million units globally, up 102% y/y;
- The percentage of new battery electric and plug-in hybrid
electric vehicle sales was 26% in China, 19% in western Europe, and
5% in North America in Q4 2021, indicative of an accelerating EV
adoption rate;
- Nickel- and cobalt-based battery cathodes dominate the EV
market (75%) leveraging their superior energy density, performance
and recyclability;
- 26% of cobalt demand was in batteries used in mobile phones
with 12% y/y growth;
- Drones are the second fastest growing non-EV sector accounting
for 5% of cobalt demand growth from lithium-ion batteries;
- Non battery applications for cobalt chemicals include pigments,
catalysts, tires, inks, driers and food additives, whereas cobalt
metals are consumed in cemented carbides, alloys, diamond tools,
and magnets;
- Cobalt mine supply grew to 165,000 Mt, 74% of which (118,000
Mt) was mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo;
- Cobalt refinery production continues to be dominated by China
with 104,000 Mt (72%) of total primary refined cobalt;
- Cobalt cathodes were selling at ~US$32/lb at the end of 2021
and the price is currently ~US$40/lb.
NICO Project:
Fortune has expended more than C$137 million to advance the NICO
Project from an in-house discovery to a near-term producer with
20-years of Mineral Reserve containing three Critical Minerals
(cobalt, bismuth and copper) and more than 1.1 million ounces of
in-situ gold. The NICO Project is comprised of a planned mine and
mill in Canada’s Northwest Territories (“NWT”) and a related
hydrometallurgical refinery in Alberta to process metal
concentrates from the mine to cobalt sulphate, gold doré, bismuth
ingots and oxide, and copper. The Company has received
environmental assessment approval and the Type “A” Water License to
construct and operate the mine in the NWT. The recent completion of
the C$200 million Tlicho Highway to the community of Whati is a key
enabler for the NICO Project. This highway, together with the spur
road to the mine that Fortune plans to construct, will allow metal
concentrates to be trucked to the railway at Hay River or
Enterprise, NWT for delivery to the Company’s proposed Alberta
refinery.
For more detailed information about the NICO Mineral Reserves
and certain technical information in this news release, please
refer to the Technical Report on the NICO Project, entitled
"Technical Report on the Feasibility Study for the
NICO-Gold-Cobalt-Bismuth-Copper Project, Northwest Territories,
Canada", dated April 2, 2014 and prepared by Micon International
Limited which has been filed on SEDAR and is available under the
Company's profile at www.sedar.com.
The disclosure of scientific and technical information contained
in this news release has been approved by Robin Goad, M.Sc.,
P.Geo., President and Chief Executive Officer of Fortune, who is a
"Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101.
About Fortune Minerals:
Fortune is a Canadian mining company focused on developing the
NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper Critical Minerals project in the
NWT and Alberta. Fortune also owns the satellite Sue-Dianne
copper-silver-gold deposit located 25 km north of the NICO Deposit
and is a potential future source of incremental mill feed to extend
the life of the NICO mill and concentrator.
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This press release contains forward-looking information and
forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable
securities legislation. This forward-looking information includes
statements with respect to, among other things, the Company’s
ability to raise additional capital, the purchase of the industrial
site on which the Company presently intends to construct the
hydrometallurgical refinery for the NICO Project, the repayment or
restructuring of the Company’s current debt, the development of the
NICO Project, the potential for expansion of the NICO Deposit and
statements regarding drill results and future drilling and assays.
Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates
of management as well as certain assumptions at the date the
information is given (including, in respect of the forward-looking
information contained in this press release, assumptions regarding:
the Company’s ability to successfully raise the necessary capital
to meet its corporate objectives in both the near and long term;
the successful exercise by the Company its option to purchase the
industrial site on which it intends to construct a NICO Project
refinery; the completion of construction of a NICO Project
refinery; the ability to arrange the necessary financing to
continue operations and develop the NICO Project; the support of
the federal and/or provincial government for the NICO Project; the
receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals for the construction
and operation of the NICO Project and the related
hydrometallurgical refinery and the timing thereof; growth in the
demand for cobalt; the time required to construct the NICO Project;
and the economic environment in which the Company will operate in
the future, including the price of gold, cobalt and other
by-product metals, anticipated costs and the volumes of metals to
be produced at the NICO Project). However, such forward-looking
information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and
other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ
materially from those projected in the forward-looking information.
These factors include the risks that the Company may not be able to
finance and develop the NICO Project on favourable terms or at all,
the 2021 drill program may not result in a meaningful expansion of
the NICO Deposit, the effects of a global market downturn, pressure
on commodities prices, and/or the COVID-19 on the Company’s capital
raising efforts, the Company may not be able to complete the
purchase of the industrial site located in in Alberta’s Industrial
Heartland northeast of Edmonton and secure a site for the
construction of a refinery, uncertainties with respect to the
receipt or timing of required permits, approvals and agreements for
the development of the NICO Project, including the related
hydrometallurgical refinery, the construction of the NICO Project
may take longer than anticipated, the Company may not be able to
secure offtake agreements for the metals to be produced at the NICO
Project, the Company’s Sue-Dianne Property may not be developed to
the point where it can provide mill feed to the NICO Project, the
inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of
mineral properties and in the mining industry in general, the
market for products that use cobalt or bismuth may not grow to the
extent anticipated, the future supply of cobalt and bismuth may not
be as limited as anticipated, the risk of decreases in the market
prices of cobalt, bismuth and other metals to be produced by the
NICO Project, discrepancies between actual and estimated Mineral
Resources or between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries,
uncertainties associated with estimating Mineral Resources and
Reserves and the risk that even if such Mineral Resources prove
accurate the risk that such Mineral Resources may not be converted
into Mineral Reserves once economic conditions are applied, the
Company’s production of cobalt, bismuth and other metals may be
less than anticipated and other operational and development risks,
market risks and regulatory risks. Readers are cautioned to not
place undue reliance on forward-looking information because it is
possible that predictions, forecasts, projections and other forms
of forward-looking information will not be achieved by the Company.
The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the
date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or
revise it to reflect new events or circumstances, except as
required by law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220519005785/en/
Fortune Minerals Limited Troy Nazarewicz Investor
Relations Manager info@fortuneminerals.com Tel: (519) 858-8188
www.fortuneminerals.com
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