China has a very strong position in Antimony and long has had. Indeed this is the metal it has been dominant in for the longest. However, like so many other resources this was squandered through overproduction, predatory pricing and high-grading. China now finds its domestic share of global production plunging and to prop up its dominance it has become a leading importer of artisanal and “conflict” ore from all around the world. It then processes this imported ore/concentrate and manages to hold a still dominant position in processed end-product Antimony Trioxide and other products.

Is the metal strategic? Thus far it does not have the type of sexy applications that other high-tech metals possess, but it is still a key component in the things it is used for such as fire retardants and its historical application as an alloy used to harden Lead in ordnance/ammunition and Lead-acid storage batteries.

And now the latest new technology to utilize the metal is Antimony molten salt batteries for mass storage. The potential here is for a quantum surge in demand. This new application may be its own undoing if the price of the metal goes too high and unravels the economics.

Lighting a Fire Under the Price

After a price slump that lasted several years, and sank the prospects of several Antimony wannabes, the price of Antimony started to uptick in 2016. It got to around $8,500 per tonne and then plunged again to around $5,500. That price was the result of a regulator-induced swoon over the use of the metal in fire retardants in children’s pajamas (the culprits being the EU and State of Massachusetts), however the main application in fire retardants has not gone away and in the wake of Grenfell Tower fire in London the regulators act against fire retardants at their own peril. This was further complicated by the ever-looming liquidation of the FANYA stockpile, which amounted to around 19,000 tonnes, which was finally sanctioned by Chinese courts in 2019. The talk in the trade was that the FANYA stocks were bought by one of China’s largest Sb producers.

Source: Argus Metals

In the wake of the pandemic and with the marketplace dry of product, the price has had a fire lit under it by Molten Salt batteries capturing the Zeitgeist. This move was compounded by global shortages caused by the Pandemic, the coup in Burma, long term underinvestment, declining Chinese production and the arrival of Molten Salt batteries in the commercial marketplace.

The worries about regulators evaporated like Gorillas in the Mist in the last quarter of 2020 and a stampede to rebuild stocks occurred sending buyers (notably in the US) into a feeding frenzy with Antimony becoming the hottest metal in the last six months (though tussling with Tin for that title) doubling in price from around $5,500 in late 2020 to nearly $11,000, from where it has eased back slightly.

On the supply-side protracted low prices have stymied anything beyond small-scale production by artisanals outside China.

Molten Salt Batteries as Icing on the Cake

We have written before on how Molten Salt batteries, based on Antimony are starting to make waves. If Liquid Metal Batteries become the “killer application” in grid-linked storage (or non-grid linked) then it potentially lights a fire under Antimony demand and pricing. The announcement that United States Antimony Corporation (NYSE: UAMY) had secured an offtake deal with Ambri for its output lit a fire under the price of that stock in late 2020.

To mix some metaphors, molten salt batteries have flown under the radar thus far but definitely have a place in the evolving battery universe and hopefully will take the Antimony market along for the ride.

In this Third Wave of battery metals, Antimony (the prime component in Molten Salt batteries) has joined the ranks of battery metals and the hunt is on for that scarce commodity, the non-Chinese Antimony miner.

Each GWh of Ambri batteries requires around 1% of current annual production of these (calcium and Antimony) anode and cathode materials. This is the closest we have to divining how much Antimony that the Ambri product line might consume if it gains traction. Current Sb production is around 170,000 tonnes per annum, implying that a Gigawatt of Ambri cell utilizes 1.7 tonnes of Antimony.

Thin Pickings amongst Actual & Wannabe Producers

Despite the metal price excitement, the equities markets are starved for options in this metal. The small field consists of the gold/silver miner, Mandalay Resources Corporation (TSX: MND) that has Antimony as a by-product from its Costerfield mine in the Australian state of Victoria, and United States Antimony with its curious focus upon the Los Juarez Silver-Antimony mine in Mexico. Red River Resources Limited (ASX: RVR), another developer basically focused on gold is trying to revive the Hillsgrove mine in New South Wales (which has Sb as a by-product) and Perpetua Resources Corp. (NASDAQ: PPTA) which was formerly called Midas Gold, has a mega project in Idaho (again with a gold focus) that also has the potential to supply half the current US demand for Antimony displacing China as the main supplier to the US. It will be interesting to see if the price surge broadens the offering in equities markets.

“As we all know it is a difficult mining market out there. There are many companies whose values are not reflected in their share price. You can either sit around and whine about it or you can do something about it. My board told me to do something about it. We bought non-core assets, packaged them, went to Australia, met with anybody who would meet with us and was able to sell these assets to create a profit for CBLT back in Canada. In essence we did a hard $1 million dollar financing without any fees on top.” States Peter Clausi, President, CEO and Director of CBLT Inc. (TSXV: CBLT), in an interview with InvestorIntel Corp. CEO Tracy Weslosky.

Tracy Weslosky: How does it feel to be a junior that is actually making money? Can you tell your shareholders and investors out there a little bit about what you are doing right now?

Peter Clausi: Sure. As we all know it is a difficult mining market out there. There are many companies whose values are not reflected in their share price. You can either sit around and whine about it or you can do something about it. My board told me to do something about it. We bought non-core assets, packaged them, went to Australia, met with anybody who would meet with us and was able to sell these assets to create a profit for CBLT back in Canada. In essence we did a hard $1 million dollar financing without any fees on top.

Tracy Weslosky: While you were in Australia we had a couple of investors in town last week they are telling me that Australia is experiencing a gold rush and they are redirecting their attention towards the resource sector. Is this correct? Is this consistent with your own conclusions having just gotten back from Australia? 

Peter Clausi: Australia does not have the same kind of risk capital market that Canada or the United States has. They do not have a cannabis market. They do not have a crypto market. The risk capital has stayed in junior high-tech, junior mining, junior oil and gas. It has not fragmented so there is more capital available. Yes, there have been a couple of recent discoveries in the gold sector that have juiced the market generally. Plus the rebirth of rare earths and lithium, we will call it 2.5 because we are not quite at lithium 3.0 yet, has also helped to excite the market. George and his buddies at Northern have done a real good job of bringing that project to market. They were a big hit when they were traveling in New York and it has helped to re-excite the rare earths market.   

Tracy Weslosky: Peter I have to tell you, I do not know if you have seen how Neo’s stock has moved. There is a lot of interest in electric cars as you know. We do not have the cobalt that we need. I do not understand why people are not lined up around the block to have your conflict-free mineral source of cobalt here in Canada. What is going on there? What is the disconnect between the cobalt demand, as we know there is a real shortage, and the interest in CBLT for instance?

Peter Clausi: There are a lot of reasons for it. It is a market that still lacks credibility. There is a group in Australia that reports in “cobalt equivalent” by taking a little bit of copper and a little bit of gold and a little bit of silver and doing some magic and increasing their cobalt number. Things like that hurt all of us. I wish they would stop doing it. The other problem we have is, cobalt is a bizarre metal. It is only found in a few places around the globe in mineable quantities. 60% of it comes from the Congo so anything that happens in the Congo affects cobalt globally…to access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: CBLT Inc. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

“At our advanced stage McBride Project in southeastern Ontario, which is nickel-cobalt-copper, we have more than $700 million dollars in contained metal value based on a historic resource of 5.1 million tons…” States Layton Croft, President, CEO and Director of Pancontinental Resources Corporation (TSXV: PUC), in an interview with InvestorIntel Corp. CEO Tracy Weslosky.

Tracy Weslosky: Layton your stock charts look phenomenal over the last year. It is my understanding you have an unusual containment number, containment volume, for your copper, nickel and cobalt. Can you talk to me about this please?

Layton Croft: At our advanced stage McBride Project in southeastern Ontario, which is nickel-cobalt-copper, we have more than $700 million dollars in contained metal value based on a historic resource of 5.1 million tons, which was defined in the sixties and seventies.

Tracy Weslosky: I understand this is really rare. Okay, we have a lot of investors out there that are going, containment volume, what is that? Can you explain this to us a little bit more because those numbers sound impressive, but what does this mean? 

Layton Croft: I think what is rare for a junior exploration company of our size is to already have a deposit. In the case of the McBride Project it is actually two deposits. By contained metal value we are talking about the gross metal value. If you look at the amount of resources on a historic basis, pre-43-101 and the grades that were defined by the previous operator Long Lac Minerals, which was a very reputable company, and you do the math based on current market prices, that is where you come up with these numbers. Now the numbers are notional. They do not take into account recoverability and other factors, but they are very indicative of how much value is contained in the ground today. Again, for a junior exploration company it is very unusual.

Tracy Weslosky: Okay, but this is overall a very interesting junior company as well. It is very exceptional. You brought a team together that has done this before. Tell us a little bit about your team and what you plan on doing with Pancontinental.

Layton Croft: Right, Tracy. Over the past 6 months we have picked up two nickel-cobalt-copper projects in Ontario. In both cases we optioned them from two different companies. In both of those cases the people that we did the deals with are now the project managers on the ground. They are both very experienced exploration geologists who know these projects between 20 and 25 years. I think that is a very unique way to generate projects. 

Tracy Weslosky: We love copper. We believe that is the top technology metal. We believe it deserves a lot more attention. But, let us talk about cobalt because cobalt, you know, the prices are through the roof, the demand is fantastic, but the stocks are kind of languishing right now. Tell us about your cobalt deposit and why with all the competitors out there we should look at Pancontinental before anybody else…to access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: Pancontinental Resources Corporation is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

July 4, 2018 – “Today minerals are traced in the Congo. You have got tin, tantalum, tungsten, cobalt, which are considered conflict metals. The early incumbent system is all paper-based log books. We think that blockchain is a significant way to improve mineral provenance and certify where it has come from, how it is produced and essentially it is a distributed ledger and it is really facilitating and automating trust between counterparties in the supply chain. We are the intermediary between artisanal miners and our offtake partner.” states Lance Hooper, President & COO and Director of Cobalt Blockchain Inc. (TSXV: COBC), in an interview with InvestorIntel Corp. CEO Tracy Weslosky.

Tracy Weslosky: Lance I think you are basically going to be the first ethical supplier of DRC cobalt. Is that correct? 

Lance Hooper: Yeah, that is our plan Tracy in the next quarter. We have put a number of the building blocks in place; initial supply agreement. Right now we are building out depot infrastructure and implementing the mineral traceability system that we have developed in the last 3 months. 

Tracy Weslosky: InvestorIntel audience, here is what we have. We have cobalt, which is in demand around the world and, of course, we have technology with blockchain. Can you explain to us a little bit more about how you are utilizing blockchain technology to change the cobalt industry? 

Lance Hooper: Sure. Today minerals are traced in the Congo. You have got tin, tantalum, tungsten, cobalt, which are considered conflict metals. The early incumbent system is all paper-based log books. We think that blockchain is a significant way to improve mineral provenance and certify where it has come from, how it is produced and essentially it is a distributed ledger and it is really facilitating and automating trust between counterparties in the supply chain. We are the intermediary between artisanal miners and our offtake partner…to access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: Cobalt Blockchain Inc. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.