Drilling Efforts Pick up Steam as Cobalt and Copper Consumption Continues to Exceed Production

PALM BEACH, Florida, April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

MarketNewsUpdates.com News Commentary 

The market for minerals for the manufacturing of batteries is emerging, and there is a major drive for electric vehicles. The main factor that will sustain electric vehicles is the battery and the battery that has been discovered to be the most effective is made of cobalt, not just lithium as some have believed. Lithium that is not the only metal benefitting from a growing demand evidenced by the rising popularity of a wide range of other metals required in the manufacture of components for electric vehicles including cobalt, graphite, copper, manganese, PGMs and nickel. Since the start of 2017 cobalt prices had risen almost 140%, with spot prices last trading around 79,500 per tonne on the London Metals Exchange. Mining professionals believe global cobalt production is set to spike in the coming months as rising prices and increasing demand from the electric vehicles sector encourage project development. Encouraged by the boost in demand for rechargeable batteries that has helped push metal prices higher, some juniors shifted their exploration focus in 2017 by dramatically increasing their spending on the search for cobalt opportunities. Today's active miners with current developments in the market include: Bankers Cobalt Corp. (TSX-V: BANC), eCobalt Solutions Inc. (OTC: ECSIF) (TSX: ECS.TO), Sherritt International Corporation (OTC: SHERF) (TSX:S.TO), Vale SA (NYSE: VALE), Rio Tinto PLC (NYSE: RIO).

Bankers Cobalt Corp. (TSXV: BANC.V) BREAKING NEWS: Bankers Cobalt is pleased to announce further high-grade copper results from the ongoing drill program at the Kabolela North concession in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Kabolela North, Hole KADD013 has returned 3.69% Copper over 6m from 72m - 78m depth extending the zone originally discovered in Hole KADD011(3.17% copper over 4m from 28m) and Hole KADD012 (2.01% copper over 6m from 34m; including 1m @ 0.3% cobalt from 39m).

1,537 meters have been drilled to date on the first ever drilling campaign conducted at Kabolela Thirteen holes have been released to date with additional holes pending from the Kabolela discovery zone.

Stephen Barley, President and CEO states, "We are excited by our initial drilling at Kabolela North. To place our results in perspective, public records for the operating Boss Mine located 3 kilometers west of Kabolela, show an estimated mineral resource of 75.1Mt averaging 2.2% copper and 0.2% cobalt Copper is an important aspect of our business plan as cobalt invariably comes as a credit to copper in the DRC and regional geology indicates the frequent occurrence of high grade copper with pods of higher grade cobalt similar to our recent results."

Note: Mineralization at Kabolela North may not be necessarily indicative of mineralization at the Boss Mine which will be determined with additional work at Kabolela North. 

Adam Anderson, DRC Exploration Manager states, "The drill target at Kabolela North is a shallow, fault hosted, sub vertical high-grade supergene copper zone of dominantly chalcocite mineralization with more abundant malachite at surface and with zones of cobalt. Drilling to date has now demonstrated continuity between three sections and a possible south plunge to the fault hosted mineralization which appears open to the south west. Further drilling is required to confirm the concept at this early stage of exploration." (Click here for maps of the Kabolela property )

All drill core has been submitted to SGS Lubumbashi for copper and cobalt determination by AAS. The initial drilling program is intended to provide information on the orientation, width, and strike length of the mineralization discovered to date. Mineralization is contained in two sub-parallel fault hosted zones and is open along strike at this early stage of exploration. Drill hole KADD013 intersected a 6-meter-wide (downhole width) zone of carbonate altered breccia with disseminated and blebby chalcocite mineralization.

Drilling is continuing to follow up these results and provide additional structural information on the mineralization. Drill sections are being developed to further display the deposit parameters and this will require additional drill holes. Read this release in its entirety along with other Bankers Cobalt news and developments at:  http://www.marketnewsupdates.com/news/banc.html

In other mining industry news and developments:

eCobalt Solutions Inc. (OTCQX: ECSIF) (TSX: ECS.TO) has appointed Darby Stacey to the role of mill and processing manager. Mr. Stacey will be responsible for leading all mineral processing and metallurgical activities for the company's Idaho cobalt project, located in the historic Idaho cobalt belt near the town of Salmon, Idaho. Mr. Stacey brings to the company over 13 years of base metals extraction and water treatment experience in technical, operational and leadership roles. Most recently, Mr. Stacey was mill site manager of Lundin Mining Corp.'s copper, nickel and cobalt Eagle mine where he led the successful design, construction, commissioning and operation of the mine and mill complex. Prior to working at the Eagle mine, Mr. Stacey gained experience with Rio Tinto at Greens Creek mine and Resolution Copper. Mr. Stacey is a registered professional engineer in the state of Arizona, and holds an MS in metallurgical engineering as well as a BS in the same field, both from Montana Tech.

Sherritt International Corporation (OTC:SHERF) (TSX:S.TO), a world leader in the mining and refining of nickel and cobalt from lateritic ores, last monthpublished the Applicable Reference Cobalt Price and Applicable Common Shares per Warrant Ratio for the three-month period ended February 28, 2018. Reference Date - February 28, 2018: Applicable Reference Cobalt Price - US$36.61: Applicable Common Shares per Warrant Ratio - 1.05 --- Sherritt is a world leader in the mining and refining of nickel and cobalt from lateritic ores with projects and operations in Canada, Cuba and Madagascar. The Corporation is the largest independent energy producer in Cuba, with extensive oil and power operations across the island. Sherritt licenses its proprietary technologies and provides metallurgical services to mining and refining operations worldwide.

In an article published on Bloomberg.com, Vale SA (NYSE: VALE) is seeking bids on a cobalt stream at its Voisey's Bay complex in Canada, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Gold producer Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. is in the process of dusting off its idled cobalt land holdings in Canada after receiving multiple inquiries, CEO Sean Boyd said in a Feb. 26 interview. Vale's Base Metals segment produces and extracts non-ferrous minerals, including nickel and its by-products, such as ferro-nickel, cobalt, gold, silver, copper, precious metals, and others.

According to an article published by Reuters.com, Swiss prosecutors on Thursday confirmed they were checking whether "questionable payments" to an ex-Mongolian finance minister were linked to Rio Tinto's (NYSE: RIO) Oyu Tolgoi mining project, adding the Anglo-Australian mining company was "not an accused". Reuters reported last week that the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) was examining whether Rio made illicit payments potentially linked to the copper and gold mine, part of the OAG's investigation into a seized Swiss bank account used in 2008 to transfer $10 million to Mongolia's former finance minister, Bayartsogt Sangajav.

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