VANCOUVER, B.C., Jan. 20, 2021 /CNW/ -- Fuse Cobalt Inc.
("the Company" or "Fuse") (TSXV: FUSE), (OTC: FUSEF), (FRA:
43W3) is pleased to announce that on December 22 2020, the government of Canada and the government of Ontario announced a joint $10-million investment in the First Cobalt Corp.
refinery in Cobalt Ontario.
Significantly, this refinery is located approximately 1500 m west of Fuse Cobalt's cobalt mineral
exploration property and inside the historic silver-cobalt
producing region of Ontario.
Furthermore, on Jan 12, 2021,
First Cobalt also finalized a new supply arrangement with Glencore
plc (LSE: GLEN) along with a tentative pact with a unit of China
Molybdenum Ltd, in which First Cobalt will
receive 4,500 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide per year from
the Democratic Republic of the
Congo for use in its northern Ontario refinery beginning in 2022. This
supply contract is significant for the region because it will
assist the refinery to become fully operational, and once
completed, it will be North America's only producer of
cobalt sulfate for the electric vehicle (EV) market.
Robert Setter comments, "Fuse has
an offtake arrangement in place with Glencore Canada which we have
mentioned many times in past news releases and public
disclosure. Now that our neighbor appears to have a cobalt
refinery just steps away from our mineral exploration properties,
this can make the economics of cobalt refining significantly better
for Fuse in the long run. We are happy for this key
development in the area, and the advantage it offers to all cobalt
explorers in the region."
The $10 million investment will
help accelerate the commissioning and expansion of the facility.
The refinery is a hydrometallurgical cobalt refinery that was
permitted in 1996 with a nominal throughput of 12 tonnes per day
and operated intermittently until 2015, producing cobalt, nickel,
and silver products. In May 2020, the
company completed an engineering study that confirmed the
refinery's suitability to treat cobalt hydroxide at an expanded
throughput of 55 tonnes per day to produce a high-purity, battery
grade cobalt sulphate. Today, approximately 80 per cent of global
supply comes from China and there
is no production in North
America.
Importantly, cobalt prices have started the year strongly, with
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence saying the market was underpinned by
strong fundamentals and tipping a "marginal deficit" by late 2021.
Across all end markets, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence forecasts
that cobalt demand will increase by 15 to 20 percent year-on-year,
with the majority of this driven by the battery sector.
Cobalt Projects
The Teledyne Cobalt Property located in Bucke and Lorrain Townships, consists of 5
patented mining claims totaling 79.1 ha, and 46 unpatented mining
claim cells totaling approximately 700 ha. The Property is easily
accessible by highway 567 and a well-maintained secondary
road.
Over $25 million Can has been
spent thus far, (2020 dollars
inflation-adjusted) on the Teledyne Property resulting in valuable
infrastructure including a development ramp and a modern decline
going down 500 ft parallel to the vein. The Teledyne Property is
subject to a production royalty in favor of New Found Gold and an
off-take agreement in favor of Glencore Canada Corp., while the
Glencore Bucke Property is subject to a back-in provision,
production royalty, and an off-take agreement in favor of Glencore
Canada Corp. Glencore plc is the world's largest producer of
cobalt.
The Glencore Bucke Property consists of two patented
mining claims totaling approximately 16.2 ha in area located on the
west boundary of Fuse's Teledyne Cobalt Project. In 1981, Teledyne
leased mining claim 585 ("Glencore Bucke Property") from
Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd. The company recognized the
significant exploration potential that the Property had due to the
possible southern extensions of the Cobalt Contact veins on mining
claim T43819 that projected southward onto the Property. In the
fall of 2017, Fuse completed 21 diamond drill holes totaling
1,913.50 m at Glencore Bucke in a
first phase of drilling designed to confirm and extend the existing
known mineralized zones on the property. The program tested the
Main Zone for a strike length of approximately 55 m and the Northwest Zone for a strike length
of approximately 45 m.
In 2018, Fuse completed 24 diamond drill holes totaling
2,559 m in phase II at Glencore Bucke
which successfully intersected mineralized zones along strike and
vertically above and below previous intersections reported in 2017
on the Main and Northwest Zones. The Phase 2 program also tested
several outlying targets with drill hole GB18-41 aimed at testing
for mineralization at depth beneath a historical trench which
intersected anomalous cobalt mineralization. Cobalt, zinc, silver and copper were present.
Not all holes were released, with holes GB18-31 through to GB18-40
to be announced in a soon to be released NI 43-101 report nearing
completion.
Past Cobalt Mining and Production
The Glencore Bucke Property adjoins the Agaunico Property on the
northeast corner. From 1905 through to 1961, the Agaunico Mine
produced a total of 4,350,000 lbs. of cobalt ("Co"), and 980,000 oz
of silver ("Ag") (Cunningham-Dunlop, 1979). The amount of cobalt produced
from the Agaunico Mine is greater than that of any other mine in
the Cobalt Mining Camp. Production ceased in 1961 due to depressed
Co prices and over-supply (Thomson, 1964).
Cobalt mineralization consisted
of cobaltite and smaltite hosted within steeply dipping veins and
extensive disseminations within Huronian sedimentary rocks. From
1951 through to 1957, the average Co content of the mineralized
material mined at the Agaunico Mine was approximately 0.5%. In
1955, 526,000 lbs. of Co, 146,000 oz of Ag, 117,000 lbs. of nickel
("Ni"), and 81,000 lbs. of copper ("Cu") were extracted from 62,000
tons of ore (Cunningham-Dunlop,
1979).
A significant portion of the cobalt that was produced at the
Agaunico Mine was located along structures (Vein #15) that extended
southward towards the northern boundary of the Teledyne Cobalt
Property, currently 100% owned by FUSE. Mineralization was
generally located within 125 ft (38.1
m) above the Huronian/Archean unconformity. Stoping widths
of up to 50 ft (15.2 m) were not
unusual at the Agaunico Mine (Cunningham-Dunlop, 1979).
Qualified Person
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and
approved by Joerg Kleinboeck, P.Geo., an independent consulting
geologist and a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101.
About Fuse Cobalt Inc. www.fusecobalt.com
Fuse Cobalt Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company that
trades under the symbol FUSE on the TSX Venture Exchange. The
Company's focus is on exploration for high value metals required
for the manufacturing of batteries.
Ontario Cobalt Properties: Fuse owns a 100% interest its
Glencore Bucke Property, situated in Bucke Township, 6 km east-northeast of
Cobalt, Ontario, subject to a
back-in provision, production royalty and off-take agreement. The
Glencore Bucke Property consists of 16.2 hectares and sits along
the west boundary of Fuse's Teledyne Cobalt Project. The Company
also owns a 100% interest, subject to a royalty, in the Teledyne
Project which consists of 785 hectares of land and is also located
near Cobalt, Ontario. The Teledyne
Property adjoins the south and west boundaries of claims that
hosted the Agaunico Mine, a former producer of both silver and
cobalt.
Nevada Lithium Project consists of 100 placer claims
covering 2000 acres (809 hectares) at Teels Marsh, Nevada. The property, called Teels Marsh West
is highly prospective for Lithium brines and is located
approximately 48 miles northwest of Clayton Valley and the Rockwood
Lithium Mine, North America's only
producing brine-based Lithium mine supporting lithium production
since 1967. Access to Teels Marsh is via dirt road, west of Highway
95 and northwest of Highway 360. Teels Marsh West is a 100% owned
without any royalties, located on the western part of a large
evaporation pond, or playa (also known as a salar). Structural
analysis reveals that Teels Marsh is bounded by faults and is
tectonically active. Tectonic activities supply additional local
permeability that could be provided by the faults that bound the
graben and sub-basins.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
"Robert Setter"
Robert Setter, President
&CEO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release. This news release may contain
forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to,
comments that involve future events and conditions, which are
subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements
of historical facts, comments that address resource potential,
upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and
security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and
others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary
materially from those statements. General business conditions are
factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from
forward-looking statements.
Contact:
Phone : (236) 521-0207
FuseCobalt.com
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content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/canadian-government-makes-joint-10-million-investment-in-cobalt-refinery-adjoining-the-teledyne-and-glencore-bucke-property-301211472.html
SOURCE Fuse Cobalt Inc.
