The Resource Angle

[neroden]

Mining is so full of sketchy people. The sector just sort of attracts them.

 

[JRP3]

Oroplata Resources poking around in Nevada looking for lithium Drilling Into Oroplata Resources: Looking for Lithium in Tesla’s Backyard - GuruFocus.com

The WNB Project covers the south central portion of an area that was first identified as lithium rich by the United States Geological Survey. The project includes 500 mining claims covering approximately 10,000 acres, the company has an option to acquire another 600 mining claims, approximately 12,000 acres.

Oroplata has a 100% interest in the WNB project, which was acquired in exchange for a royalty on future production from the property. Oroplata is a pure exploration company, so the risk level is high for all such companies.

 

[neroden]

Funny company name. "Oroplata" == "Goldsilver".

 

[JRP3]

New project to extract copper and cobalt from old tailings METALKOL RTR (THE ROAN TAILINGS RECLAMATION PROJECT).

 

[AudubonB]

Mining is so full of sketchy people. The sector just sort of attracts them.

If I were the sort of poster who writes "<===This" to others' posts, I would write:

<====This

 

[JRP3]

A commenter on SA mentioned Katanga mine increasing copper and cobalt production in the next few years. Haven't found a source for his numbers though:

Katanga is going from 3,000t per year Cobalt to 22,000t+ after close to $1 billion in upgrades.

It's a Petersen article so click at your own risk
http://seekingalpha.com/article/403...65&commenter=1&comments=show#comment-73833835

 

[JRP3]

A non-Petersen article about cobalt and some potential mining plays http://seekingalpha.com/article/4032657-top-5-cobalt-miners-consider

Sherritt is interesting with sources in Cuba and Canada and no DRC ties, as is previously mentioned Fortune in Canada.

 

[Missile Toad]

Here's a good primer on what minerals are used in the NCA and other types of batteries. Cost and sourcing are also mentioned: Breakdown of raw materials in Tesla’s batteries and possible bottlenecks

 

[moe.salih]

Not sure if it's been linked to:
No cobalt, no Tesla?

 

[GoTslaGo]

Not sure if it's been linked to:
No cobalt, no Tesla?

"Funny" comment about the article:

"If John Petersen is cited then this article is a Koch Brothers paid for piece of false news."

(he is)

 

[MXWing]

Great thread, can't believe I missed it.

It's a nice way to diversify a bit into the future without 100% concentration into TSLA.

Penny stocks carry huge risk but one way to offset it is throwing a few thousand at a brokerage account that gives you free trades so you can throw 100 bucks at each (as an example) and not get eaten up on commission fees.

 

[jhm]

Hmm. I think the boring company may come in useful here. Imagine a colony of robotic ants that minimize energy and wear on machinery for excavation by intelligent attack of the material, optimal scaling and coordinated movement of that material. Such a colony of ants could go as a pre-mission to Mars to build habitats for humans.

 

[JRP3]

Robotic ants? Why stop there? Nanobots.

 

[pz1975]

Someone was asking about cobalt stocks in the main thread.

I have a small investment in eCobalt Solutions (ECS, trades in Canada), which owns a cobalt deposit in Idaho and supposedly will start extracting sometime in 2017.

I also have a small investment in Fortune Minerals (FT, again in Canada) that owns a mine in the Northwest Territories that will mine cobalt + other things.

These are both penny stocks and speculative but I like the idea of cobalt mining in NA since Tesla wants to source its minerals locally.

 

[jhm]

Robotic ants? Why stop there? Nanobots.

I envision a colony of heterogenous ants at many different scales. They are smart enough to determine the optimal scale for each piece of debris. Fine scale for fine debris, larger scale for coarse debris or large volumes of debris. Key principle is to minimize the energy needed to move each particle.

 

[JRP3]

Matt Bohlsen has his monthly Lithium review up http://seekingalpha.com/article/4040100-lithium-miner-news-month-january-2017

 

[racer26]

Someone was asking about cobalt stocks in the main thread.

I have a small investment in eCobalt Solutions (ECS, trades in Canada), which owns a cobalt deposit in Idaho and supposedly will start extracting sometime in 2017.

I also have a small investment in Fortune Minerals (FT, again in Canada) that owns a mine in the Northwest Territories that will mine cobalt + other things.

These are both penny stocks and speculative but I like the idea of cobalt mining in NA since Tesla wants to source its minerals locally.

Anybody else have potential Cobalt stocks in their portfolio?

I just jumped in on eCobalt, Fortune, and LiCo Energy Metals today - any others for north american mined Cobalt?

 

[wdolson]

Cuba has the largest cobalt reserves in this hemisphere and their mines have been under utilized for nearly 60 years now. If the US continues to normalize relations with Cuba they will probably become the dominant cobalt producer in the western hemisphere. I don't know if anyone outside of Cuba will be able to invest though.

 

[pz1975]

The best stock IMO for cobalt mining in Cuba is Sherritt International. It runs a large nickel/cobalt (they are always mined together) mine there and is also involved in energy production in Cuba.

It has a market cap of $420 million so it isn't a penny stock. I own a small position in this company and figure cobalt from Cuba would still be technically North American (Tesla's plan), especially since the refining is done in Canada.

FYI, the other North American cobalt stocks are doing well lately - ECS is up 25% and FT 19% since opening my positions.

 

[AudubonB]

I have followed Sherritt for three decades and, while I absolutely concur that its resource base in Cuba is a good one, there remains a turgid black cloud over the company so large that esp. US investors should approach investing in it with extreme prejudice.

Sherritt and its Cuban partner extract their ore at the Moa Bay plant and mine site formerly owned by the predecessor company to today's Freeport Copper (FCX on the NYSE). This was Texas Freeport Sulphur Company; it had begun extracting cobalt and nickel from Moa in the mid-1950s. One of the very first operations in the entire country that was nationalized by the Castro regime, in 1960, was this plant. The takeover was absolute: Freeport received nothing in compensation.

FCX retains an unrequited claim against the Cuban government and Sherritt for the expropriation; I believe it is for $2 billion but don't have my notes with me today. Sherritt is not permitted to distribute financial material in the USA; its executives are on a special USBP list; although it MIGHT have been possible that some tentative probings between Sherritt and the US State Dep't could have begun during the latter Obama years (I have no especial knowledge of this; just logical musing), I have no doubt whatsoever that the current US administration will have absolutely zero flexibility with respect to seeking anything but a draconian single-sided agreement in this altercation.

That Very Large Aside aside, I will happily share with all that there are extensive Ni/Co-bearing laterites in the greater Moa Bay area and deposits outside the Sherritt operation have the potential in my mind to represent:

• a very large, moderate- to high-quality resource base with a very good potential to be upgradable to the reserve category
• excellent proximity to a US market
• fertile ground for renascent US-Cuban trade ties
• note esp. that these laterites are not just cobalt-bearing, but nickel-bearing. Quite appropriate for a firm like Tesla to watch closely

But please consider the prior paragraphs when considering Sherritt.