Cruz Cobalt set to begin drilling in Ontario

Cruz Cobalt Corp. [CUZ-TSXV, BKTPF-OTC, A2DMG8-Frankfurt] said Thursday it has received a drill permit from the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines for a planned 2021 drill program in the historic Cobalt camp in Ontario.

Cruz did not provide details of the drilling plan in Thursday’s news release but said the drill program is expected to begin shortly.

Cruz shares were unchanged at $0.082. The shares currently trade in a 52-week range of 14 cents and $0.025.

Cruz is one of the largest landholders in the historic silver-cobalt producing region of Cobalt, Ontario, with five separate projects in the camp. Those projects are in the vicinity of First Cobalt Corp’s (FCC-TSXV, FTSSF-OTCQB, FCC-ASX) Ontario cobalt refinery.

In December, 2020, the government of Canada and the government of Ontario announced a joint $10 million investment in the First Cobalt refinery to help accelerate commissioning and expansion.

More recently, First Cobalt said it had entered into an exclusivity agreement with a leading financial institution for US$45 million in debt financing to fund the capital cost of relating to the recommissioning and expansion of its refinery.

The Cobalt-Gowganda silver mining area has seen over 600 million ounces of silver and 50 million pounds of cobalt produced from approximately 104 different mining operations in the area since the first silver vein was discovered in 1903.

Cruz Cobalt President Jim Nelson said drilling will be fully funded by flow-through funds already on-hand. He said the company currently has $1.5 million in the treasury and is looking forward to drilling for the first time in multiple years.

“Our shareholders should be enthused about the second half of 2021 as we plan to be more active than at any point in the past three years, at a time when demand for battery metals, such as cobalt and lithium, are near historic highs,” he said.

Cruz currently has 12 properties located throughout North America, consisting of five in Ontario, four in British Columbia, two in Idaho and one in Nevada.

The company’s 1,542-acre War Eagle cobalt project in British Columbia covers a past-producing mine.

The company has previously said its main goal it to make Cruz the foremost cobalt project generator and developer on the TSX Venture Exchange. It has taken the view that cobalt is at the early stages of a significant bull market and wants to position Cruz at the forefront of this cycle.

Cobalt and lithium are often referred to as energy metals. They are the primary constituents, along with graphite, of lithium-ion batteries, one of the fastest growing segments of the battery market.

Lithium-ion batteries power mobile phones, laptops, and other electronic devices. Cobalt is also used in the production of super alloys, which are temperature stable, mechanically strong, chemically stable and resistant to corrosion. An important use is in turbine blades, deployed in jet engines.

The incorporation of cobalt in a superalloy provides superior temperature stability.