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| |  | |  | | | |   June 10, 2009
Illegal Mining of Cobalt in the Congo
Publisher: CNBC
Author: Erin Burnett
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| | Click on image below to view CNBC's story on the illegal mining of cobalt - "Cobalt and the Congo - Dollars and Danger"
Formation Capital Corporation's Idaho Cobalt Project is expected to supply North America with a stable source of cobalt offsetting the current reliance the United States has on foreign sources such as the Congo. Once in production, the ICP will be the sole primary cobalt producer in the Western Hemisphere. The Company trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol FCO.
The link to CNBC's report is also provided here below:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1148104078&play=1 |
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| June 02, 2009
Canada could become big player in electric cars industry, says Magna
Publisher: The Canadian Press
Author: Julian Beltrame
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| | OTTAWA - Magna International Inc. chairman Frank Stronach says he wants to start mass-producing electric cars in Canada within three years.
The head of Canada's largest auto parts maker was in Ottawa on Tuesday seeking government support for his new electric vehicle venture after Magna cemented a deal with General Motors Corp. to acquire the U.S. automaker's money-losing Opel car brand in Europe.
Unveiling the fully electric compact that Magna developed in partnership with Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Stronach said he is being courted by the U.S. and Europe but he wants his first electric cars to come off a Canadian assembly line.
"We are very serious, we have a serious commitment," he told reporters.
"I would like to see that the first electric car facilities are in Canada. If we would get a loan at a reasonable rate, we know we could speed it up, we would make sure it will be in Canada."
If successful, an electric car assembly operation in Canada would provide badly needed jobs in a troubled industry and help the global parts giant cash in on the growing demand for low-pollution vehicles in the marketplace over the next few years.
Toyota, with its Prius, and Honda, with its new Insight, already have hybrid electric-gasoline cars, and General Motors plans to mass produce its new Volt fully electric vehicle at a U.S. plant and get them into dealer showrooms by the end of 2010.
The world's former No. 1 auto maker filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday - the largest ever for an industrial company - and said it hopes to move forward with just four core brands - Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.
It also plans a spate of new fuel-efficient and low-polluting models, including the Volt, a critical piece of GM's vehicle lineup for the future.
GM experimented but failed with electric cars in the past. However, the Volt is seen as a sure-fire winner by the Detroit company, especially in a future market of younger buyers worried about soaring gasoline prices and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Volt is an extended-range all electric vehicle with a powerful battery pack that uses cutting-edge lithium-ion technology. The vehicle also has a small gasoline engine to replenish the battery power when it gets low, not to drive the car.
Stronach said he believes within six years about 15 per cent of cars sold will be electric or the hybrid variety, with the percentage doubling by 2021.
An official with the Aurora, Ont. parts maker, which employs 74,000 people in 25 countries, said the model being developed with Ford is aiming for a 160-kilometre range without recharging.
Magna (TSX: MG-A.TO) is putting in about $300 million into the project and is seeking low-interest loans from the federal government for about half the total cost.
But Stronach came to Ottawa without any guarantee he would be seeing Prime Minister Stephen Harper, although he said he hoped to arrange a meeting.
The electric vehicle is a major step by Magna to diversify its business away from auto parts, a sector hit hard by the slump in GM, Ford and Chrysler, Magna's main customers.
Besides electric vehicles, Austrian-born Stronach wants to expand Magna's vehicle assembly operations and use the Opel deal to boost sales to Russia, which could soon become Europe's largest car market and help Magna decrease its dependence on North America.
Magna has also been looking to other customers like Volkswagen, BMW and Toyota.
Saturday's Opel deal calls for Magna to take a 20 per cent stake in the German company and for state-controlled Russian lender Sberbank to take a 35 per cent stake, giving their consortium a majority.
GM will keep 35 per cent, while the remaining 10 per cent will go to Opel employees.
The Magna chairman appeared less certain about whether any of Opel's European-based manufacturing plants would be transferred to Canada, suggesting a sticking point is an agreement with GM not to sell Opels in the U.S. market.
Last week, Stronach said he wants to build Opels in Canada, but although he repeated that wish Tuesday, he suggested availability to the larger U.S. market is essential before the company could make that commitment to manufacture in Canada.
"I'm very optimistic we can sit down and work out concepts and structures which would be beneficial to GM and to Magna and also to Canada," he added.
Stronach described the global auto market as extremely competitive, but said he believes the Opel unit will break even in three years and turn a profit in four years.
In another matter, he called the massive bailouts of GM and Chrysler as necessary, given the jobs at stake and that the car companies were adversely impacted by the global recession.
"If it were only the car industry and the rest of the world economy was functioning, then it wouldn't have been right to bail out the car companies," he said. "But if they had gone bankrupt and were sold in bits and pieces, the spinoff effects would have been a few million jobs (lost) between Canada and the United States."
Stronach, whose company runs mostly non-union plants, said he has one major concern over what he called the "confrontational culture" that exists between management and unions in the North American auto sector. He said that culture has greatly handicapped the industry.
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| March 30, 2009
China's '09 cobalt demand to rise 3-4 pct -- refiner
Publisher: Reuters
Author: Polly Yam
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| | Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:49am EDT
By Polly Yam
HONG KONG, March 25 (Reuters) - China's consumption of cobalt is expected to rise at least 3-4 percent this year because of strong demand from cellphone batteries, even though demand from other sectors may fall in the face of the global economic slowdown, an official at a refiner said on Wednesday.
But output may fall this year as low prices are discouraging producers from running full rates, which could cut exports from China, the world's top producer and consumer of cobalt.
China consumed 5.3 percent more cobalt at 13,519 tonnes last year, nearly a quarter of world demand, said Yang Zhai, marketing manager at Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co Ltd.
"Consumption should rise by more than 3-4 percent as demand from cellphones increases, particularly with the development of the 3G," Zhai told Reuters at the sidelines of a minor metals conference in Hong Kong.
Production of lithium cobalt oxide, which is used in batteries for cellphones, would rise by more than 5 percent this year from 5,478 tonnes last year, he predicted. That demand had taken up nearly half of China's cobalt consumption.
To develop China's new third generation (3G) mobile networks, the government has estimated that the country's three telecom carriers would spend $58.5 billion over the next three years. [ID:nPEK22716]
With the expansion in 3G networks, ZTE Corp (0763.HK)(000063.SZ), the world's sixth largest cellphone maker, aims to raise revenue by a double-digit percentage this year. [ID:nHKG280880]
Zhai said cobalt demand from the production of a catalyst, which was used in an oil product called purified terephthalic acid (PTA), would rise as oil prices stablised.
Demand from the sector, which accounted for 6 percent of the country's total consumption of cobalt, fell 29 percent to 950 tonnes last year due to sharp falls in oil prices.
FALLING OUTPUT
But production of cobalt may fall this year from 20,000 tonnes last year, a third of the world's output, as producers have slowed or shut production on weak prices of the metal, Zhai said.
He estimated about 6,000 tonnes of cobalt stocks had been carried to this year.
Spot refined cobalt with purity more than 99.6 percent traded at about 305,000 yuan per tonne in Shanghai on Wednesday, down 63 percent from a year earlier but up 9 percent this year.
Spot cobalt cathode COB-CATH-LON in London is trading around $16 per pound, down from more than $46 in the first half of last year.
China would continue to rely on imported material as feed for the production of refined cathode as local mines produced about only 1,000 of metal this year, he said.
But the firm would increase refined cobalt production to up to 3,600 tonnes this year from 2,800 tonnes last year after it boosted capacity by two-thirds to 5,000 tonnes a year, Zhai said.
-END- |
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| March 18, 2009
Xstrata opposes Formation Capital cobalt project on environmental grounds
Publisher: Northern Miner
Author: Kip Keen
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| | Vancouver - Rarely do mining companies make headlines for objecting to a competitor's mine development based on its potential environmental impact. But in a strange twist to the saga of Formation Capital's (FCO-T, FCACF-O) environmental approval process of its Idaho cobalt project (ICP) - where the company has been able to bring onside environmental groups and First Nations with commitments not to oppose the project - Xstrata (XSRAF-O, XTA-L) has become one of only two objectors to the U.S. Forest Service's positive record of decision on the project's environmental impact statement through an ongoing appeal process.
The other appeal came from an individual named Charles Pace.
The dispute is one between neighbours over the potential impact of the ICP on local waterways that has reached the point of Formation Capital alleging Xstrata may be trying to block the development of the ICP to protect the Swiss-based major's near-monopoly on the global high-purity cobalt market of which Formation Capital says Xstrata controls 85%.
But Xstrata maintains it is only protecting its interests next door to the ICP at the past-producing Blackbird mine - an EPA Superfund site - where, along with a Rio Tinto (RTP-N, RIO-L) subsidiary, it has spent over US$70 million on remediation through three of its wholly owned subsidiaries: Noranda Mining, Noranda Exploration and Blackbird Mining. The Blackbird site also happens to be downstream of the ICP and Xstrata says it doesn't believe that Formation Capital's environmental impact statement addresses Xstrata's concerns that it could end up being on the hook to clean-up potential pollution from the ICP.
The ICP, located 45-km west of Salmon, Idaho, would be an underground mine, with proven and probable reserves of 2.6 million tonnes grading 0.559% cobalt, 0.596% copper and 0.4 gram gold per tonne, and provide ore to Formation Capital's hydrometallurgical facility 250-km away near Kellog, Idaho, where the company would produce about 1,525 tonnes of high-purity cobalt per year, making them direct competitors to Xstrata.
Dominique Dionne, Xstrata vice-president of corporate affairs in the company's Toronto-based nickel division, tasked with responding to Formation Capital's allegations following The Northern Miner's inquiries to one of its attorneys in Idaho, says the appeal is not intended to prevent the ICP from proceeding.
"It is intended to protect the money that has been spent, more than US$70 million, by Noranda and others, to remediate the Blackbird mine and the streams in that area," she says. "The streams and the water quality and the fish populations and the waterways have been re-established, so that's a done deal. The appeal is really to protect that, in the view of the potential impact of any new development on these waterways."
But E.R. Honsinger, Formation Capital vice-president corporate communications, suspects Xstrata may have ulterior motives. He notes that the other major stakeholder at Blackbird has not appealed the record of decision and, further, that it and Formation Capital are working out any potential issues through talks.
"I think the environmental record (of decision) speaks for itself," he says. "We spent a lot of time working on this and there is virtually no environmental opposition to this project because we've done everything we can to mitigate any of those concerns."
He argues Xstrata does not "have any environmental legs to stand on" as regards the issue of potential downstream impacts. Not only have local groups, including the Idaho Conservation League and a First Nation band, agreed not to oppose the mine's development, Honsinger notes, but the U.S. Forest Service has signed-off affirmatively on its environmental impact statement.
"The only thing we can read between the lines here is that it would appear that through (Xstrata's) actions that they are (a) either using us as a potential soapbox to try and get out of all of their cleanup responsibilities or (b) they're trying to corner the market, the cobalt high-purity market."
Dionne declined to respond to those allegations.
Honsinger, noting current troubles in the Democratic Republic of Congo where Xstrata operates, theorizes that part of the problem in getting a resolution to the dispute may also be that Xstrata "has bigger fish to fry". But he says: "They should be aware of what's going on down in this smaller 'minion here of Salmon, Idaho. And it just doesn't appear to be the case."
Back at Xstrata, however, Dionne defends the company's stance on the ICP. She explains that Xstrata only wants to make sure Formation Capital's environmental impact statement explicitly addresses potential impacts to the Blackbird property and she says the company is not fundamentally opposed to there being a new cobalt mine next door.
Putting it bluntly she says the ICP's environmental impact statement as it currently stands would not protect Xstrata and its subsidiaries at Blackbird from potential problems upstream. "The thing is, the way it's been done now, we would be exposed," she argues.
Both parties state a desire to resolve the matter through negotiation but Honsinger and Dionne relate discordant accounts as to how much of an effort the companies have made to resolve the cross-fence dispute.
Dionne says there have been several meetings and constant conference calls with Formation Capital. "We've been working with them and our only interest is to protect the $70 million that has been spent on this," she says.
But Dionne's description of regular contact between the companies incenses Honsinger who stresses that he would like nothing more than to meet and resolve the issue with Xstrata but that Formation Capital's calls to the Major have gone unanswered. It's why Formation Capital is making the matter as public as it is, he says.
"Their contact with us has been extremely limited," Honsinger says, adding, "Their legal counsels' filing of appeals and so on has been extensive."
As for the appeals, Kimberley Nelson, the U.S. Forest Service ranger currently overseeing their assessment, says the U.S. Forest service will announce its decision regarding them on April 30 after the regional forester receives her department's recommendations.
Dionne says Xstrata is seeking meetings with the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "to make sure that there will be a distinction between the historical effects of the mining and the new impacts that could take place on the waterways."
Her understanding at this point is that the meetings have been requested "and we're waiting on that," she says.
But, while the U.S. Forest Service considers the appeals, Xstrata's influence, or Formation Capital's for that matter, will be limited. "We do not consult with them during the appeal process," Nelson says.
Thus at this point the resolution ultimately appears to be out of either company's hands.
-END- |
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| February 16, 2009
EPA issues permit for ID cobalt mine project
Publisher: Associated Press
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| | A Canadian company proposing to mine high-purity cobalt from a mountain in central Idaho now has the federal permit required to discharge treated wastewater into a tributary of the Salmon River. The Environmental Protection Agency issued the permit this week [see Formation Capital News Release Feb 11, 2009] for the Idaho Cobalt Project, planned on public land mined off-and-on since the late 1800s for cobalt, silver and copper.
Securing the discharge permit was a major federal step for Formation Capital Corp., the Vancouver, B.C.-based company seeking to open the first domestic cobalt mining operations in decades.
"The receipt of this permit is a substantial milestone," said Guy Jeske, general manager for the Idaho Cobalt Project. "The terms and conditions of the permit are consistent with what we expected and we have no doubt that we can comply."
The company anticipates extracting from two underground shafts as much as 1,600 tons annually of high-grade cobalt, a key component in the construction of jet airplane engines and batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles.
The proposed mine is located in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, 22 miles west of Salmon, on land partially shared with the historic Blackbird Mine, the site of a federal Superfund cleanup and blamed for destroying salmon runs along a tributary of the Upper Salmon River watershed.
The company expects to mine for at least 10 years, hire about 150 full-time employees and add about $15 million each year into the state and local economies.
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| February 05, 2009
Boom in battery sector anticipated
Publisher: Metal Pages
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| | LONDON (Metal-Pages) 03-Feb-09. In spite of the global economic downturn and dearth of sales in the automobile sector there are reports that a boom in the battery sector is expected with the prospect of a strong growth in sales of electric cars. As a result electronics companies are making vast investments in battery plants.
Leading Japanese electronics companies such as Toshiba and GS Yuasa have announced plans for new battery plants, although the industry is cutting capital investment overall.
Ryoji Chubachi, President of Sony announced a list of factory closures, but the one area where he promised growth was batteries.
"Nobody wants to be left out and nobody wants to lose existing market share," said Donald Saxman, an analyst at BCC Research.
Fuji Keizai, a research company, expects the market for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to more than double to ¥1,255 billion ($14bn) between 2007 and 2012, and the overall battery market to grow by some 37 percent.
Industry analysts give three reasons for this. First is the growth in mobile devices, from laptop computers to Apple's iPhone. The second is the "green" drive for hybrid or fully electric cars, all of which will need a large battery, and the third is the potential use of batteries to store renewable energy generated by turbines when the wind blows, or solar panels when it is sunny, and then release it as conditions require. But of these, the general opinion is that electric cars will be the main source of demand in the future.
"We are on the cusp of mass production now, that is why there is a sense of urgency," said Ravi Krishnaswamy of consultants Frost & Sullivan.
Recent investments in battery production have been made between a car manufacturer and a battery specialist, for example GS Yuasa is going to launch a joint venture with Honda and there are reports that Nec and Nissan may increase the investment in their battery joint venture by ¥100 billion by 2012.
Hybrid electric cars such as the Toyota Prius use nickel-metal hydride batteries but investments now are for lithium-ion batteries, which are smaller and lighter relative to the amount of energy stored, are expected to power fully electric cars in the future.
Panasonic's recent ¥807 billion takeover bid for Japanese rival Sanyo Electric is thought to be because Panasonic wishes to have access to Sanyo's lithium-ion battery business, the world leader in the industry.
So many companies are trying to get into the market, however, that there are doubts whether all of them can succeed. "The most successful companies are typically existing lithium battery companies," said Mr Saxman.
Sanyo believes that all carmakers will want at least two battery suppliers in order to reduce risk. It says that its proved technology, customer relationships and global manufacturing base will give it an advantage over ventures part-owned by rival carmakers. Sanyo already plans to invest ¥80bn by 2015 and with Panasonic in the driving seat this may be increased.
Krishnaswamy of Frost & Sullivan says Japanese and South Korean producers are well ahead, but US companies are trying to catch up. Last month, A123 Systems, a US battery maker, applied for $ 1.84bn in US government loans to build a lithium-ion plant.
In spite of Toshiba pulling out of the lithium-ion battery market in 2004, it has now decided to start mass production in 2010 which analysts expect to cost several hundred million dollars. Since leaving the battery sector, Toshiba has not stop its battery research and says the decision reflects its confidence in a new technology called SCiB, which it claims is not only safer and longer lasting than other lithium-ion batteries, but can also reach up to 90 percent of its full charge in as little as five minutes.
In December 2007, Toshiba announced the general commercial launch of a 4.2 Ah cell version of its fast-charging SCiB---Super Charge ion Battery---lithium-ion battery and is developing a 3.0 Ah high-power version of the cell specifically for hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) applications.
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| February 04, 2009
Jinchuan raises cobalt price by 9%
Publisher: Metal Pages
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| | BEIJING (Metal-Pages) 03-Feb-09. The major Chinese cobalt producer Jinchuan Group raised its website offer prices for cobalt metals yesterday afternoon by another Rmb 30,000/tonne, after two price increases during the first half of January.
The Gansu-based company is quoting Rmb 350,000/tonne ($23.26/lb) for 99.8% cobalt metal, up from Rmb 320,000/tonne which has been in place since 12 January.
Its website offer price for the plate shaped cobalt metal has also moved up to Rmb 348,500/tonne ($23.16/lb), also representing an increase of Rmb 30,000/tonne from the previous Rmb 318,500/tonne basis.
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| January 22, 2009
Idaho Cobalt Project Moves Ahead with New Decision
Publisher: The Challis Messenger
Author: Todd Adams
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| | Idaho Cobalt Project moves ahead with new decision
BY TODD ADAMS
The long process toward construction of the Idaho Cobalt Project took another step forward this week with the publication of a revised Record of Decision (ROD) to allow cobalt mining in the Panther Creek drainage.
"This is good news," Guy Jeske, Idaho Cobalt Project General Manager, told The Challis Messenger.
"This is a significant development and a decision that I hope will stand," Salmon-Challis National Forest Supervisor Bill Wood told The Messenger.
Formation Capital Corporation (FCC) officials figure they can start construction on the mine in May, even if there are appeals to the new ROD, Jeske said. The company has not yet seen the new document, but is confident it can fine-tune its plan of operations to address any new concerns the Forest Service might raise, Jeske added.
This is the second ROD issued after the first was overturned by Regional Forester Harv Forsgren in October and sent back to the Salmon-Challis National Forest for revision.
FCC believes it has enough time to make any changes to its plan of operations and still begin construction sometime in May, after the snow melts, Jeske said. The company's goal is to start producing by 2010.
Wood agreed it's possible that Formation Capital could break ground this season provided the regional forester upholds this latest decision and the project is not challenged in court.
Wood has selected Alternative IV from the Environmental Impact Statement, which would result in about 132 acres of surface disturbance for an underground mining operation for cobalt, copper and gold in the Panther Creek drainage, adjacent to the former Blackbird Mine.
FCC must submit a new plan of operations consistent with provisions in the revised ROD. If the Forest Service approves the plan, the company then must post a $44 million bond (plus or minus 20 percent) to ensure long-term management of wastewater and runoff from the mine.
Formation Capital must also secure a National Pollution Elimination Discharge Permit from the Environmental Protection Agency and obtain easements for power and road access through the old Blackbird Mine to the Idaho Cobalt Project area.
Jeske said all three items are in the works and the company is confident it can clear all the remaining permitting and regulatory hurdles so construction can begin.
Background
After the first ROD was released in June of 2008, Forsgren wanted more information on how the mine's plan of operations would comply with laws and affect the environment.
Specifically, he wanted to know how the plan of operations would manage sedimentation to streams during the construction phase and how groundwater would be managed and treated, Wood said. The regional forester also wanted the Salmon-Challis forest to document consultations with tribal officials on the Idaho Cobalt Project and to do a watershed analysis of the Panther Creek drainage.
Forsgren last year approved the final Environ-mental Impact Statement as meeting all requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). He said it had thoroughly discussed potential impacts to aquatic resources and riparian areas, but that information had not been compiled into a watershed analysis, a separate document required under the forest plan.
The new ROD also provides a more succinct description of potential mining impacts on the characteristics of Inventoried Roadless Areas and their management under the October 2008 Idaho Roadless Area Management Rule.
"We feel we've complied with everything the regional forester asked us to address," Wood told The Messenger. "We're hopeful and confident this time around that the regional forester will uphold the decision."
Wood's first Record of Decision received a very critical look, said Ray Henderson, the Salmon-Challis forest's former minerals project director, who is now working as a consultant on the Idaho Cobalt Project. The second ROD is essentially the same decision, he said, but is better supported than the first document.
Wood's latest ROD deals only with the Ram deposit, the larger of the two cobalt deposits that Formation Capital is planning to mine. The Ram deposit has enough known reserves for 10 years of production, based on the mill's capacity of 280,000 tons of ore per year, Jeske said.
By contrast, the Sunshine deposit has one year of proven reserves and would be developed only after the underground mine for the Ram deposit, said Jeske. The Forest Service is deferring any decision on the Sunshine until FCC provides the agency with a supplemental plan of operations, according to the legal notice.
Formation Capital hopes to employ 157 miners from the Salmon and Challis areas during production with a payroll of $9.5 million per year, company officials have said. Another 37 people would be employed in the Kellogg hydometalurgical plant for refining the ore. Mine and mill construction is estimated to cost $70 million, employ 50 workers and take about a year. The project is expected to generate $8 million per year in taxes to local governments.
The Challis Messenger • P.O. Box 405 • Challis, Idaho 83226 Telephone 208.879.4445 • Fax 208.879.5276 • E-mail: info@challismessenger.com |
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| January 02, 2009
Li-ion Batteries Mass Production by Alliance of 14 U.S. Battery Makers and National Lab
Publisher: Metal-Pages, London
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| | LONDON (Metal-Pages) 02-Jan-09.
A U.S. government laboratory has formed an alliance with 14 U.S. companies with expertise in batteries and advanced materials in order develop manufacturing facilities for the mass production of lithium batteries for vehicles, as reported by Reuters.
The alliance, which includes battery industry giants such as 3M Co and Johnson Controls-Saft, intends to secure $ 1 billion to $ 2 billion in U.S. government funding over the next five years to build a manufacturing facility with an "open foundry" for the participants to develop the perfect lithium-ion battery for cars.
"It's a huge deal for the nation, and for the lab," said Mark Peters, who is in charge of transportation and battery research at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, which will advise the group.
China, Japan and South Korea are the current leaders in lithium battery research, he said in a telephone interview.
"A small, fragmented (U.S.) battery industry will not long survive in the face of determined Asian competition," Ralph Brodd, a consultant to battery manufacturers, said in a statement released by Argonne. The Argonne National Laboratory is one of the U.S. Department of Energy's largest research centers. It is also the nation's first national laboratory, chartered in 1946 and is recognised for its excellence in connecting basic research to innovative technology.
"(Other) countries understand that he who makes the batteries will one day make the cars," he added.
The best-selling hybrid vehicles such as Toyota Motor Corp's Prius use a nickel metal hydride battery. However, lithium batteries are widely considered to be the next technological leap forward for electric-powered vehicles, as they can be recharged in a wall socket like a computer battery.
The National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture was modeled after SEMATECH, the successful public-private venture created in the late 1980s to restore U.S. prominence in computer semiconductor technology.
In addition to Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions, a joint venture of Johnson Controls Inc and France's Saft Groupe SA, and the 3M Co the founding members of the battery alliance are ActaCell, All Cell Technologies, Altair Nanotechnologies Inc, Eagle Picher Industries Inc, EnerSys, Envia Systems, FMC Corp, MicroSun Technologies, Mobius Power, SiLyte, Superior Graphite, and Townsend Advanced Energy.
In addition to an advisory role for Argonne, U.S. truck and automobile manufacturers will be asked to join the alliance's advisory board, said James Greenberger, an attorney who was instrumental in assembling the group.
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| November 20, 2008
Formation Capital Has Kept The Lawyers At Bay And Now Awaits A New Environmental Decision On Development Of The Idaho Cobalt Project
Publisher: Minesite.com
Author: Charles Wyatt
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| | Formation Capital Has Kept The Lawyers At Bay And Now Awaits A New Environmental Decision On Development Of The Idaho Cobalt Project
By Charles Wyatt
Patience and persistence are the two prime qualities to be sought in the chief executive of a junior mining company in which it is worth investing. Such a chief executive takes problems on the chin and finds ways of solving them. Not for him, or her, the whinge and hide tactics adopted by some peers. Such a chief executive fronts up and discusses the pros and cons of events applicable to their companies rather than burying his or her head in the sand and hoping the financial scene will improve while he or she remains in this inelegant position. Names such as Michael Carvill of Kenmare Resources, Colin Loosemore of Archipelago, and Josef El-Raghy of Centamin Egypt come to mind among those whom we have written about recently as meeting these qualities. They are now joined by Mari-Ann Green, chief executive of Formation Capital.
She thought she was pretty well home and dry in assembling the mass of permits needed to bring her company's cobalt mine in Idaho into production. Then she woke up one morning in October to find that the positive Record of Decision granted by the Regional Forester in June had been remanded -- overturned is a better word -- and that it will now be necessary for the Salmon Challis National Forest authority in Idaho to issue a new one which -- hopefully - would be upheld by the Regional Forester. Don't ask for an explanation of all these titles, but the bodies concerned are all involved with environmental issues, or so they say. This turn of events was completely unexpected. It came at a time when Formation Capital had been looking for mine financing in the hopes of beginning mine construction during the third quarter of 2008. But there was no alternative but to put the financing on hold until a new Record of Decision was issued. This is unlikely to happen before Christmas.
A tough entrepreneur can always find something positive in a difficult situation. Mari-Ann Green says that now is not the best time to be looking for funding anyway and that the delay means that her team of mining engineers, metallurgists and other professionals can now review the project's detailed engineering and the planned procurement of mining equipment to assess where changes can be made to save time and money. Also in times of recession the prices of all commodities are hit so there could be scope for significant savings on construction materials such as steel. And she also points out that the company no longer faces the problem of carrying out construction in the winter months when costs rise and efficiency falls.
For her part she has initiated meetings with the Boulder White Clouds Council and Earthworks, the two environmental groups which appealed against the Record of Decision. She resisted going the route of lawyers as both these groups have very deep pockets, funded as they are by celebrities living in Sun Valley who join every available environmental group and think that earning a living pretending to be someone else means they have a brain. Lawyers seldom reach a compromise as they are paid to win, so knowing this, Mari-Ann Green sat down with the environmentalists and hammered out a series of deals.
First, a revised methyl mercury plan was agreed, even though there were no specific concerns about methyl mercury at the Idaho cobalt project. Anyway, a study which involves the analysis of fish tissue will take place to see if there is any impact on water quality. Second, a copper loading demonstration plan was designed with input from all parties to protect the watershed from any additional copper loading. Again the Final Environmental Impact Study had indicated that there was absolutely no chance of this happening, but Mari-Ann assuaged the worries of the environmentalists by agreeing that surface and ground water would be monitored to determine if additional copper loading occurs and, if it does, to locate its source. Arsenic was the other worry, so it was agreed that an effluent concentration level of 10 parts per billion (ppb) should be set for any discharge, despite the fact that the current State standard for arsenic is 50 ppb.
This was good sensible negotiating, and the result was that the two environmentalist groups agreed not to challenge the new Record of Decision. No use knocking them. They think that the environment is more important than the people who live in it, and it is a view to which many rich townies affiliate themselves. Presumably they overlook the statement made by the Forest Service that the project is "of great importance to the community". As Mari-Ann points out, she has lived in Idaho most of her life, she thinks it is the loveliest place on earth, and she would do nothing to damage it. Cobalt, however, is a strategic metal and the US has no other sources of primary production.
Her company is currently in a sound financial position, with C$5.6 million in cash and an additional C$4.4 million in precious metal inventory as at the end of August, metal inventory built up from the Big Creek Hydrometallurgical Complex, which includes the Sunshine Precious Metals Refinery, and is already generating cash flow for Formation. The Idaho cobalt project received a positive 43-101 compliant bankable feasibility study in July 2007 and is expected to produce around 1,500 tonnes annually of super-alloy grade high purity cobalt metal over a minimum ten year mine life. With the price of cobalt still above US$30 per pound, and with an outlook of increased demand, the economics of the project remain very positive. Mari-Ann is certainly not going to be deterred from her purpose by celebrity environmentalists or the current glitch in world finances.
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