Jervois active on Idaho cobalt resource update
Jervois Global Ltd. [JRV-TSXV, ASX, JRVMF-OTC, IHS-FRA] shares were active Wednesday after the company released an updated mineral resource estimate for its 100%-owned Idaho cobalt operations (ICO) near Salmon, Idaho.
Back in October, 2022, Jervois said it had commenced initial commissioning activities at ICO, with an expectation of nameplate capacity to be sustained by the end of the first quarter of 2023. A site opening ceremony was held on October 7, 2022, the company said.
The company said the latest estimate incorporates 10,000 metres of new drilling, including six resource expansion drill holes and 62 infill holes. It said ICO measured and indicated resources in the RAM deposit now stand at 3.78 million tonnes of grade 0.52% cobalt, 0.84% copper and 0.54 g/t gold.
On top of that is an inferred resource of 1.59 million tonnes of 0.51% cobalt, 0.92% copper and 0.65 g/t gold.
The company said the global resource (mineralised envelope) consisting of the RAM deposit ICO remains open both at depth and along strike. Jervois also said it is confident there is significant continued potential for resource expansion.
“Encouragingly, the 10,000 metres of new drilling completed since the previous (2020) ICO mineral resource estimate, has increased both statistical and geological confidence based on the consistency of the new drilling results,’’ the company said.
Jervois Global shares were active in the news, trading unchanged at $0.09 on volume of 719,500. The shares currently trade in a 52-week range of 95 cents and $0.055.
Jervois has been focused on becoming a global supplier in the emerging battery metals market. In keeping with that focus, the company swallowed eCobalt Solutions Inc. two years ago in a $57.6 million deal, a move that gave Jervois Mining access to eCobalt’s Idaho Cobalt Project (ICO), a high-grade cobalt deposit.
Idaho Cobalt Operations (ICO) is now Jervois’ flagship primary cobalt deposit located in Idaho near the town of Salmon. Over the course of 20 years, approximately US$100 million has been invested in developing the mine.
It is fully environmentally permitted for ore processing capacity of up to 1,200 tons and has high cobalt and copper grades, with a gold by-product.
The ICO is located in the heart of the Idaho Cobalt Belt, a unique mineral-rich, prolific metallogenic district unique to North America, which historically produced 2 million tons of contained cobalt between the early 1900s through to the 1960s.
Jervois has already announced the successful completion of an updated bankable feasibility study for the ICO. It said the study confirms the potential of the project to establish a near-term, low-cost cobalt-copper-gold mine, with significant opportunity to increase the mineral resource and extend mine reserves once mining commences.
The company has said ICO consists of a 1,200 ton-per-day underground hard rock mine with a milling and flotation circuit. When production commences, Jervois said ICO will produce both a cobalt concentrate and a copper concentrate.