LiCo Energy Metals jumps 25% on Ontario cobalt assays

LiCo Energy Metals Inc. [LIC-TSXV; WCTXF-OTCQB] on Wednesday January 3 released assay results from drilling at its Teledyne property northeast of Cobalt, northeast Ontario. Investors reacted by sending the share price up 25% or $0.03 to $0.15 in morning trading. Volume was active, with over 3 million shares changing hands.

LiCo Energy Metals is a grassroots Canadian company that conducts exploration for metals used in the production of lithium-ion batteries.  Exploration of these metals has become critical in the face of surging demand for electric vehicles, cell-phones, and many other modern devices.

LiCo Energy has four ongoing projects in mining friendly jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and Chile.

The most significant results from drilling at Teledyne include hole TE17-02 which returned 0.95% cobalt over 1.9 metres from 143 to 144.9 metres, including 2.58% cobalt over 0.60 metres from 144.30 to 144.90 metres. Drill hole TE17-02 also returned 0.59% cobalt over 3.9 metres from 156.0 to 159.9 metres, including 2.22% cobalt over 0.60 metres, from 156.6 to 157.2 metres.

Assays from Teledyne are similar to those that were recently released from the company’s Glencore Bucke property, also located northeast of Cobalt, Ontario. Highlights from Glencore Bucke include drill hole GB17-07, which returned 1.11% cobalt, 16.6 ppm silver over 2.0 metres, including 7.64% cobalt, and 9.1 ppm silver over 0.26 metres.

On the Teledyne cobalt property, the company has completed 11 diamond drill holes totaling 2,200 metres in the fall of 2017. The drilling has confirmed cobalt mineralization on the property, which is consistent with historical grades and widths.

LiCo has now completed its 2017 diamond drilling program on both Teledyne and Glencore Bucke properties. The program was comprised of 32 diamond drill holes, and 4,100 metres of core.

This work satisfies both the company’s flow-through financing obligations and the contractual obligations outlined in the recently acquired Glencore Bucke property from metals trading giant Glencore Plc of Baar, Switzerland.

“Having consistently found cobalt in commercial grades of 0.50% and higher is very exciting for our team,” said LiCo President and CEO Tim Fernback. “This is especially true when we also see extended zones with greater than 2.0% cobalt in the same drill core,” he said.

Fernback went on to say that the company is looking ahead to getting the remaining drill core results back from the assay lab to confirm that the same cobalt mineralization is found throughout the Glencore and Teledyne properties.

Aside from the Ontario properties LiCo’s asset portfolio includes the Dixie Valley Exploration project in Churchill County, Nevada, about 160 km northeast of Reno. This is an early-stage conceptual lithium brine project covering 2,817 hectares of ground. The target is a lithium brine model based on Clayton Valley (Nevada) and several basins in South America.