Wilson returns as CEO of cobalt explorer LiCo Energy

LiCo Energy Metals Inc. [LIC-TSXV; WCTXF-OTCQB] has announced the appointment of Richard Wilson as President and CEO. Wilson is reassuming those roles from Tim Fernback, who is stepping down for personal reasons, the company said in press release on July 2, 2018. Fernback will maintain his role as a director of the company. Wilson previously served as director, president and CEO of the company from March 30, 2016, to April 30, 2017.

“I am excited to return to LiCo and looking forward to catching up and working on this great slate of properties with an outstanding team,” Wilson said. “I would also like to thank Tim for his contributions to the company in his role as President and CEO,” he said.

LiCo shares were unchanged on the news and traded at a 52-week low of 4.5 cents on Monday. The 52-week high is 20 cents.

Wilson has been in the mining and natural resource industry for over 20 years. Since 2006, he has been President of Regent Ventures Ltd. [RGVNF-OTC], a company that is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of resource properties. Currenly, Wilson serves as Director, President and CEO of Nevada Energy Metals Inc. [BFF-TSX].

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.

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

LiCo recently announced an agreement with Surge Exploration Inc. [SUR-TSXV; CKVLF-OTCQB], giving Surge the option to earn a 60% interest in LiCo’s Glencore Buck and Teledyne cobalt properties which are located in Cobalt, northeast Ontario.

Under the deal, Surge agreed to pay LiCo $240,000 and issue 1 million fully paid and non-assessable common shares to LiCo. In addition, Surge committed to incur $1.53 million in exploration expenditures.

Having completed its obligations to Glencore Canada Corp. under a mineral property acquisition agreement dated August 31, 2017, LiCo holds a 100% in interest in the mining rights for the Glencore Bucke property in Bucke Twp., 6 km east of the town of Cobalt.

The purchase agreement included a back-in provision, production royalty and an off-take agreement in favour of Glencore, which ranks as one of the world’s largest producers of cobalt. Glencore Canada is a subsidiary of Glencore Plc [GLEN-LSE; GLN-Jo’burg; GLNCY-OTC] of Baar, Switzerland

Strategically, the Glencore Bucke property consists of 16.2 hectares and sits along the west boundary of LiCo’s 100%-owned Teledyne Cobalt Project. Teledyne covers the southern extension of the former producing 15 Vein on the past producing Aguanico Mine Property.

Historically, the Aguanico Mine produced 4,350,000 pounds of cobalt and 980,000 ounces of silver during the mining boom of the early 1900s.