A month after announcing it had acquired full ownership of its Idaho-based Iron Creek project and eliminated its royalty, Canada's First Cobalt (TSX-V: FCC) released a video today aimed at selling high the product of its flagship asset.
"As federal agencies seek ways to reduce U.S dependency on foreign sources of cobalt, projects such as Iron Creek in mining-friendly Idaho support a strategy to reduce American strategic vulnerability," the miner said in a press release.
Iron Creek is one of the three projects First Cobalt owns in North America. Previously operated under a lease, it is located in Lemhi County, along the Idaho Cobalt Belt. Last September, the company announced an Inferred Resource estimate at Iron Creek of 26.9 million tonnes grading 0.11% cobalt equivalent (0.08% Co and 0.30% Cu containing 46.2 million pounds of cobalt and 176.2 million pounds of copper) under a base case scenario that is pit constrained and has deeper underground resources.
At present, the miner is working on updating its recource estimate by carrying out a drilling campaign to extend the strike length of the mineralized zone from over 500 metres to over 1,000 metres and test down dip extensions of known cobalt-copper zones from 150 metres to over 300 metres below surface.
Cobalt is a key component in next-generation batteries, particularly for electric vehicles.
In an interview with MINING.com, global automotive design entrepreneur Henrik Fisker, who is also part of First Cobalt's Board of Directors, said the company's focus is on providing cobalt to the American EV market efficiently, and also on maintaining stringent ethical mining practices.