Meteoric starts aerial surveys at its three biggest cobalt projects

Special report: Meteoric Resources first announced in August it had signed up Canada’s Geotech to undertake aerial surveys of its Iron Mask, Mulligan East and Beauchamp cobalt projects using an innovative “Versatile Time Domain Electro-Magnetic (VTEM)” technology.

The VTEM Plus technology — which Geotech has been developing since 2002 — can penetrate through rock to depths of 300 metres to identify moderate to excellent conductor materials.

“We are extremely pleased to have Geotech Limited flying their latest VTEM technology over our three largest Canadian projects as not only is Geotech a world leader in airborne geophysics programs, but this technology is both time efficient and extremely cost effective,” Meteoric (ASX:MEI) managing director Andrew Tunks said.

Cobalt stronger than ever

It is pretty evident there is still strong demand emerging from other electric vehicle and battery makers, but what is adding to the potential for cobalt prices to rise even further is the severe supply shortfall that has already started to emerge.

Market research provider Research and Markets says the global cobalt market is facing an imbalance in the demand-supply ratio.

The market has shifted from an oversupply in 2016 to a supply deficit in 2017, according to the recently released “Global Cobalt Market 2018-2022” report.

This pushed the cobalt price up to a record high of $US91,500 per tonne in May this year from a low of $US21,750 per tonne in February 2016. That is a 320 per cent increase in the past two years.

While American car giant Tesla and Japanese battery maker Panasonic have both said they are phasing out the use of cobalt in their products, Research and Markets predicts the global market will still grow at an annual rate of 9.26 per cent between 2018 and 2022.

Canada a safe bet

Best of all, operation in Canada provides little to no sovereign risk – unlike its African competition.

In 2016, the Responsible Cobalt Initiative (RCI) was born – a consortium of companies like Apple, Samsung and Sony together vowing to address social and environmental risks in the cobalt supply chain starting with child labour.

This puts companies like Meteoric in a strong position to take advantage of the RCI providing leverage from players in the DRC.

Lab test results from Meteoric’s “Mulligan” cobalt project in Ontario, Canada are due later this month.

This special report is brought to you by Meteoric Resources.

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