European Cobalt finds mineral treasures in Slovakia waste dumps

Market darling European Cobalt has delivered a strong set of cobalt-nickel-copper numbers from historical waste dumps in Slovakia.

Initial sampling of waste dump material at European’s (ASX:EUC) flagship Dobsina project has returned as much as 3.2 per cent cobalt, 8.6 per cent nickel and 11.1 per cent copper.

European Cobalt — lead by former Syrah Resources boss Tolga Kumova —  has so far evaluated 16 of 42 waste dumps.

The material has been left over from historical mining dating all the way back to 13th century when iron ore was initially mined there. Copper mining followed from the 14th to 19th centuries.

In 1780, a Saxony miner discovered cobalt and nickel at Dobsina, which triggered a mine expansion that lasted to the end of the 19th century.

Historic mine works at the Dobsina project. Pic: European Cobalt

Historic production grades have fetched up to 8 per cent cobalt and 17 per cent nickel from sulphide mineralisation.

This high-grade mineralisation at Dobsina from the waste dump material highlights the very high historical cut-off grades required when the material was mined, European Cobalt managing director Robert Jewson said.

Work undertaken justifies further bulk sampling and metallurgical testing in conjunction with surveying to evaluate the scale of the waste dumps, he said.

A high resolution airborne Lidar survey (light detection and ranging) is planned for later this month to identify previous historic mine works including pits, shafts and adit entries and location and size of waste dumps.

Dobsina lies in central Slovakia, directly to the north of the small mining town of Dobsina. It’s close to infrastructure including power, water and proximity to a railhead.

Railway in close proximity to Dobsina. Pic: European Cobalt

The mine is close to end user markets. High-end German auto makers such as Volvo and BMW — which are investing in electric cars — are based near the project’s door step.

European Cobalt is chaired by Tolga Kumova, resources entrepreneur who has raised more than $500 million for his ASX-listed mining ventures.

He is best remembered as former managing director and founding shareholder of Syrah Resources, overseeing the company from a tiddler through to an ASX200 mining company.

The company has had a bumper run on the Australian bourse over the past year, soaring from a 52-week low in November 2016 of 1.3c to a 52-week high earlier this month of 29.5c — a whopping 2169 per cent turnaround.

It’s currently trading at 19c with a market cap of $145 million and cash of $3 million.