Resource World Magazine

36 www.resourceworld.com A P R I L / M A Y 2 0 1 8 H istorically, northeast Ontario's Cobalt Silver Camp produced 50 million pounds of cobalt as a by-product of 500 million ounces of silver production. And with companies like tech giant, Apple Inc., considering the purchase of long-term cobalt supplies directly from miners – as are some North American auto manufacturers – the price of cobalt roughly doubled in 2017 to over US $30/lb. Canadian juniors have been stampeding into the Cobalt Silver Camp and other pro- spective areas in the province for the past year and from an exploration standpoint 2018 is setting up to be the region's busiest in decades. Gino Chitaroni, geologist, mining tech- nologist, prospector and President of the Northern Prospectors Association, told Resource World, "In less than two years there has been more exploration in the greater cobalt mining camp than the previ- ous 30 years. I believe new discoveries of cobalt, silver and base metals will result from this work and from future explora- tion that could change the entire region of northeastern Ontario. This new cobalt rush looks to be sustainable for the medium to long term and bodes well for potential future processing of cobalt. The cobalt camp may be destined to be key player in the battery and energy markets as a clean stable source of cobalt for years to come." Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. [AEM-TSX, NYSE] ceased mining operations near Cobalt after producing more than 26 mil- lion ounces of silver between 1957 and 1989. It still owns many claims that it is offering for sale or for some sort of royalty arrangement. Azincourt Energy Corp. [AAZ-TSXV; AZURF-OTC] recently signed a non-bind- ing letter of intent with BullRun Capital to acquire its Erythrite Project, a prospective cobalt property situated 6 km northwest of Cobalt. The project covers approximately 652 acres adjacent to Cruz Cobalt's Bucke Cobalt Project and Brixton Metals' silver- cobalt project. Alex Klenman, CEO of Azincourt, confirms the company is look- ing at other projects that "will continue to strengthen the company in the growing clean energy space." Private company Battery Mineral Resources is taking a district-scale approach in the Ontario Cobalt Belt of Ontario and western Québec where it holds a very large land position. Properties include the Siscoe Mine in nearby Gowganda, as well as McAra, Island 27 and the Iron Mask. The Brixton Metals Corp. [BBB-TSXV; BXTMF-OTC] Langis-Hudson Bay silver- cobalt project in the Cobalt Camp hosts two historic producers including the Langis Mine which produced over 10.4M oz silver from shallow depths, along with 358,340 lbs of cobalt. Power, railways, mills, a permitted refinery and an assay lab are located on or near the site. In February, Brixton reported initial drill results from its Hudson Bay pros- pect, the company's "first targeted cobalt campaign." Highlights from the first three holes included: drill hole HB18-01, which intersected 1.00% cobalt, 11.10 g/t silver, 0.95% copper and 0.72% nickel or 1.25% CoEq over 0.80 metres from 52.20 metres depth; and drill hole HB18-03, which intersected 0.28% cobalt (0.34% CoEq) over 1.83 metres from 53.17 metres depth. In August 2011, Canada Cobalt Works Inc. [CCW-TSXV; TAKRF-OTC; 4T9B-FSE] concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the Matachewan First Nation in connection with its Castle cobalt- silver property in the Cobalt area. The former producing property is located 85 km northwest of the camp. As of December 2017, the Castle Mine site property com- prised 19 claims, 34 leases and two licenses of occupation totaling 2,815 hectares. The historic Castle Mine site operated at various times between 1917 and 1989, producing a total of 9,410,095 oz silver and 376,053 lbs cobalt from the No. 3 shaft. Canada Cobalt has retained a major global engineering firm specializing in the energy and industrial markets to complete earthworks studies and advance the per- mitting process for the planned installation of a state-of-the-art, 600 tonne-per-day, gravity flotation cyanidation mill at the Castle site. The company will also be sub- mitting plans to the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development & Mines for unlim- ited dewatering of levels two through 11 of the Castle Mine. A mini-bulk sample from the first level of the Castle Mine returned 2.47% cobalt Cobalt camp comes to life Search underway for commodity that was once only a by-product by David Duval One of a number of old headframes from the famous Cobalt, Ontario silver rush of the early 1900s still survives in the town of about 1,000. The target is now the battery metal cobalt. Photo by David Pinkney, Polymet Labs. COBALT

• Cover