As far as cobalt streaming deals go, Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. (TSX-V: KBLT) is king of the hill. The Toronto-based company foresaw the future of cobalt years ago and got in front of it, amassing a huge portfolio of physical cobalt and royalties on the metal that is integral to the manufacturing of rechargeable batteries for electric cars and energy storage. Coming into the week, Cobalt 27 owns nearly 3,000 Mt of cobalt and royalties on eight cobalt properties.
The portfolio just got bigger.
On Monday, Cobalt 27 said that it agreed to acquire a 1.5% gross revenue royalty on the Flemington Cobalt-Scandium-Nickel project located 370 kilometers west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia currently under option by Australia Mines Ltd. Flemington has a a maiden mineral resource of 2.7 million tonnes grading 0.101% cobalt based solely on only 1% of the project being tested as of October 2017.
Analysis of the Flemington property by SRK Consultants concluded that Flemington is part of the same ore body as the adjacent Sunrise Project of Clean TeQ Holdings that is described as one of the highest grade and largest nickel/cobalt deposits in the world aside from Africa. Africa is home to the Democratic Republic of Congo that supplies some 65% of the world's cobalt despite being widely known for its political instability and accusations of violating worker's rights, including using child labor at some mines.
Cobalt 27 also agreed to buy a 1.7% gross revenue royalty on the Nyngan Scandium project owned by Scandium International Mining. The project, located about 500 kilometers northwest of Sydney, is fully permitted and ready for construction.
Nyngan is trumpeted as the most advanced scandium development project anywhere in the world aside from existing production in Russia and China where the mineral is produced as a byproduct of other mining activity.
Cobalt 27 is paying Jervois Mining Ltd. a total of $4.5 million U.S. in cash ($1.5 million) and stock ($3.0 million) for the Flemington and Nyngan royalties. Shares of KBLT are down none cents, or 0.72%, at $12.40 in Toronto as the lunch hour approached.
