Formation on target for cobalt production at the end of 2008
Sat May 12, 2007
Metal-Pages.com

  SHANGHAI (Metal-Pages) 11-May-07. Canada's Formation Capital Corporation is on target to begin producing high purity, aerospace grade cobalt by the end of 2008, Scott Bending, Formation's President, told delegates at The Cobalt Conference in Shanghai.

Formation is currently operating the Sunshine Precious Metal Refinery at Big Creek in Idaho, U.S.A., where they are producing copper sulphate and precious metals using a unique solvent extraction and electrowinning process. The facility is being expanded to produce LME high grade copper and high purity cobalt metal, with the option to produce high purity cobalt chemicals, giving them greater flexibility to meet market demands. Once in production Formation will be the only producer of primary cobalt in the U.S.A.

The plant can currently produce over 10 million ounces of silver, 350,000 ounces of gold and 8 million pounds of copper per annum and will have the capacity to produce 1,625 tonnes of cobalt once the cobalt circuit is completed.

The feed will come from a nearby underground mine [Idaho Cobalt Project] that has measured and indicated resources giving it a mine life of over ten years, with inferred resources suggesting an additional four years on top. In addition there are two further resources which Bending believes will ultimately be added to the total extending the mine life for several decades. Formation is well advanced on the permitting for the mine, which they expect to have in place by autumn this year along with a bankable feasibility study in June.

With demand for cobalt expected to continue to increase and supplies predicted to remain tight over the next couple of years the projects timing looks good, especially as, according to Bending, the project will make money at $10/lb which, if the current prices of around $30/lb are sustained, should keep the shareholders happy.