First Cobalt is a North American battery materials company with leading ESG credentials that is currently expanding and recommissioning their refinery capable of producing battery grade cobalt. 

First Cobalt is on the cusp of becoming North America’s first producer of cobalt sulphate through their refinery in Canada. The company also has a cobalt-copper mineral exploration asset in the state of Idaho called the Iron Creek Project and has recently announced some work carried out on battery recycling.

After a couple of quiet years First Cobalt is getting pretty busy now as they move towards doubling the footprint of the plant going from 12 tonnes - 55tpa of production. Phase I will be completed in October 2022, at which time the facility will produce 25,000 tonnes per year of battery grade cobalt sulphate. This will be a short timeline with the permitting process and equipment starting to arrive on site early in 2022 and incremental stages of de-risking the process towards production. First Cobalt will be operating in under 18 months which is what makes them unique as a company in this market.

A Phase II expansion plans to recycle lithium-ion battery material in the form of black mass to recover cobalt, nickel, copper and other battery materials. The final product will be marketed to EV and battery manufacturers in North America and Europe. 

The drilling programme continues this year with 2022 being the big drill year when they plan to start step out drilling as they are open on strike and on depth. 

The Iron Creek Project in Idaho is a high grade primary cobalt deposit that sits on patented property within the Idaho Cobalt Belt. First Cobalt aims to build an underground ‘mine of the future’, leveraging current best practices and technology to minimize the environmental footprint of a future operation.