PALM BEACH, Florida, January 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

North American cobalt companies are capitalizing on the perfect storm of increased global demand coupled with supply constraints in regions known for producing the precious metal, including Africa. With experts forecasting electric vehicles to top 70 million units sold by 2039, the demand for cobalt is set to continue holding strong as it remains an integral part of lithium-ion batteries. Mining and production of the precious metal in North America has increased dramatically over the past few years, and experts believe the numbers will only continue to rise as the Congo sets to increase tax rates. In turn, leaders in the growing industry in North America are scrambling to accumulate assets to capitalize on the tremendously lucrative opportunity at hand, with a vast portion of the market share up for sale due to the increased African tax rates. Notable companies in the industry this week include:  Cruz Cobalt Corp. (OTC: BKTPF) (TSX-V: CUZ), Katanga Mining Limited (OTC: KATFF) (TSX: KAT), First Cobalt Corp. (OTC: FTSSF) (TSX-V: FCC), eCobalt Solutions Inc. (OTC: ECSIF) (TSX: ECS), Advantage Lithium Corp. (OTC: AVLIF) (TSX-V: AAL).

Cruz Cobalt Corp. (OTC: BKTPF) (TSX-V: CUZ) wishes to announce that it has tripled its land holdings surrounding the 'War Eagle' cobalt prospect in BC.  We recently commenced operations on this property.  Cruz has now increased the acreage on the War Eagle cobalt prospect from 4,935 acres to now be 15,219 acres. War Eagle Cobalt Prospect in BC covers a past producing mine and has encountered surface samples of 6.41% cobalt, 3.59% nickel and 7.25% copper (historic data).

James Nelson, President of Cruz states, "We continue to accumulate cobalt assets and acreage with a mandate to focus on ethically sourced cobalt. The global demand for cobalt has never been higher.  Recently, there has been talk out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo which stating that a new tax for mining and specifically cobalt may be implemented.  This would create an additional demand for ethically sourced cobalt.  In addition, President Trump has announced that the USA wants to domestically source battery metals such as lithium and cobalt to avoid foreign imports of these strategic commodities.  This is a very positive step as Cruz has projects in Canada as well as in Idaho and Montana.  We plan to be active on both of the USA Cobalt projects in 2018 and currently are active in Canada.  We are very optimistic about 2018 as we enter the year with more cash in the bank than any other time and cobalt prices at nine year highs." Read this and more news for Cruz Cobalt Corp at:  http://www.marketnewsupdates.com/news/cuz.html

Cruz currently has nine cobalt projects located throughout North America, comprising of four in Ontario, three in British Columbia, one in Idaho and one in Montana. Cruz's four separate Ontario cobalt prospects are all located in the vicinity of the town of Cobalt making Cruz one of the largest landholders in this emerging cobalt district. Cruz's Ontario projects include the 1,265 acre Coleman cobalt prospect, the 900 acre Johnson cobalt prospect, the 15,219 acre Hector cobalt prospect and the 1,580 acre Bucke cobalt prospect. The company's 4,935 acre War Eagle cobalt prospect in British Columbia covers a past-producing mine. Cruz's USA projects include the 1,940 acre Chicken Hawk prospect in Montana and the 880 acre Idaho Star prospect.  This new acreage was acquired via Mtonline.

In the industry developments and happenings in the market this week include:      

Katanga Mining Limited (OTC: KATFF) (TSX: KAT.TO) closed up over 5% on the Canadian TSX on Monday at $2.36 trading over 700,000 shares by the market close.  Katanga Mining announced last month that it has successfully completed the hot commissioning of the core of the first train of its new whole ore leach ("WOL") processing facility at its subsidiary Kamoto Copper Company's ("KCC") copper and cobalt mine in Lualaba Province, DRC. The Luilu site where the WOL and electro-winning plants of KCC are located, successfully produced its first copper cathode on December 11th, 2017.  Copper and cobalt production at KCC has been suspended since September 2015 pending the construction of the WOL project. A progressive ramp-up and commissioning of the remainder of the first train is expected to follow over the ensuing three months, with the objective of achieving full capacity on the first train by the end of Q1 2018.

First Cobalt Corp. (OTCQB: FTSSF) (TSX-V: FCC.V) recently announced positive assay results from two holes intersecting cobalt mineralization on two separate veins in the Woods Extension area of the Cobalt camp, Ontario. One intersection occurs along strike of the Watson vein and the other is likely a new vein between the Woods and Watson veins. These intercepts, in conjunction with previous results from this area, suggest a broad deformation zone of mineralization may exist between the Woods and Watson veins. Trent Mell, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Drill results from Woods Extension continue to prove exciting during these early days of our Cobalt camp drilling. All drill holes in this area have hit meaningful values of cobalt or other metals and the mineralization is open along strike northward. It is noteworthy that cobalt mineralization has been intersected to the north and south of the historic Keeley and Frontier mines, where the focus was silver mineralization."

eCobalt Solutions Inc. (OTCQX: ECSIF) (TSX: ECS.TO) last week announced it shipped three tons of a bulk mineralized sample of Idaho cobalt project (ICP) resource for pilot-level metallurgical testing at Dundee Sustainable Technologies' (DST) facilities in Quebec. This testing is expected to further confirm the successful removal of arsenic on a pilot level to less than 1 per cent from ICP ore concentrates by conventional roasting methods, as demonstrated in previous bench-scale testing. The results of this additional testing are expected to provide feasibility-level detailed engineering data to assist in costing and sizing of equipment to produce a clean cobalt concentrate with less than 0.5 per cent arsenic at the proposed cobalt production facility (CPF). This testing supports the company's optimization efforts to reduce technical risk at the CPF through the development of a simplified flow sheet and is expected to result in a significant reduction in capex (capital expenditures) and opex (operating expenditures) at the facility.

Advantage Lithium Corp. (OTCQX: AVLIF) (TSX-V: AAL.V) closed up slightly on the Canadian TSX Venture on Monday at $1.19 by the market close. Advantage Lithium announced last month that at the Company's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held on December 21, 2017, Messrs. David Sidoo , Callum Grant , Nick DeMare , Richard P. Seville , Rick Anthon and Miguel Alberto Peral  were elected as directors for the ensuing year.  The shareholders also passed all other resolutions including an ordinary resolution to ratify the existing stock option plan, pursuant to which the Company may grant stock options up to 10% of its issued and outstanding common shares at the time of the grant.  Advantage Lithium is a resource company specializing in the strategic acquisition, exploration and development of lithium properties in Argentina and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia .

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