Cassini Resources Shines Spotlight on WMP Cobalt Potential
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Cassini Resources (ASX: CZI) answered investor and shareholder queries to provide a market update regarding the cobalt opportunities within the company’s West Musgrave project (WMP), located in Western Australia.
The WMP is part of an Earn-in/JV Agreement with OZ Minerals (ASX:OZL).
Cassini Resources said it had initiated a review of the West Musgrave project after considering recent rises in the cobalt price and the implications for the project.
The company considers one of these opportunities to be the amount of contained cobalt in the Nebo–Babel deposits that would be produced as a by-product of nickel and copper production.
The Nebo-Babel deposits contain approximately 30,000 tonnes of cobalt, which Cassini claims to be competitively placed against other cobalt dominant projects.
The company cited it 2015 Scoping Study, which included market advice that cobalt within nickel concentrates was healthy enough to attract by-product credits and proposed approximately 500 tonnes per annum of cobalt in concentrate for the life of mine (+10 years).
The Further Scoping Study (FSS) work currently underway will include new mine optimisation and financial modelling, likely to include a higher long-term cobalt price than the previous study.
The current spot price for cobalt is trading 95 per cent higher than the price used in the 2015 Scoping Study.
Recent drilling at the One Tree Hill prospect encountered cobalt grades higher than present in the Resource for the company’s Nebo-Babel nickel-copper project with drill hole CZD0017 intersecting a massive sulphide zone returning:
3.2 metres at 0.1 per cent cobalt along with 2.16 per cent copper, 0.58 per cent nickel and 1 gram per tonne PGE within a broader disseminated zone of 34m at 1.05 per cent copper.
A review carried out by Cassini of the regional drill database is underway to evaluate potential cobalt opportunities that have not been previously recognised.
This has already identified cobalt anomalies in the historical drilling including:
5m at 0.24 per cent cobalt;
4m at 0.25 per cent cobalt; and
1m at 0.45 per cent cobalt at bottom of hole.
“The emerging theme of specialty metals associated with electric vehicles and other new technologies has gained substantial support over the last 12 to 24 months,” Cassini Resources managing director Richard Bevan said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“In response to this, we have received significant inquiry from shareholders and the investment community on Cassini’s exposure to cobalt.
“While Cassini remains focussed on developing the nickel and copper resources at the West Musgrave project, the company is well placed to benefit from increasing prices in cobalt.
“Cassini is able to differentiate itself from its competitors in this space by already having a large resource that is extractable using conventional processing technologies.
“Our well-defined feasibility and development timeline should provide investors with confidence that Cassini will reap the benefits of rising cobalt prices in the short to medium term.
“We look forward to incorporating cobalt opportunities into our project-wide exploration strategy and continuing the development work on the Nebo-Babel nickel-copper project with our partner OZ Minerals”.
Email: admin@cassiniresources.com.au
Website: www.cassiniresources.com.au