eCobalt Solutions is announcing positive economics from the FS of its Idaho Cobalt Project (ICP), the only environmentally permitted, primary cobalt project located in the USA. The FS is based on an underground mine with a target production rate of 800 short t/d and a weighted average annual production of 2.4 Mlb of cobalt, 3.3 Mlb of copper and 3,000 oz of gold over a 12.5 year mine life with an estimated pre-production period of 24 months utilizing a 0.25% Co cutoff grade. The economic model uses a 34% corporate tax rate and a 7.5% discount rate, resulting in an after-tax NPV of $135.8 million and an IRR of 21.3% using an average base case price of $26.65/lb for contained cobalt in cobalt sulphate.

The ICP is 100% owned by the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Formation Capital Corp, U.S. The FS was prepared by Micon International in conjunction with SNC Lavalin. The ICP is expected to be an underground mine and mill, exploiting the company’s Ram deposit, located within the Idaho cobalt belt outside the town of Salmon, Idaho. Additionally, the Cobalt Production Facility (CPF), a hydrometallurgical refining operation located on a railhead in Blackfoot, Idaho, is expected to be built. The ICP would be a vertically integrated project designed to produce cobalt chemicals for the rechargeable batteries market in addition to by-products of copper concentrate, copper sulphate, magnesium sulphate and gold.

Paul Farquharson, President and CEO stated: “After years of dedicated work, our team is gratified the project is validated on a feasibility level enabling us the opportunity to strategically advance to the next stage and pursue project financing, construction and production. Pre-construction activities are underway in preparation for project construction and mine development contingent upon successful project financing. The project’s main competitive strengths are having a primary cobalt deposit located in the United States and a high reserve grade when compared to other existing sources of cobalt located globally. The feasibility study highlights multiple opportunities to enhance the economics of the project and these include expansion of the resource, optimization of the mine plan to process higher grade material and detailed engineering at the CPF to further reduce risk and improve capital and operating costs.