JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior explorer Cazaly Resources has lodged an application for an exploration permit over known cobalt-manganese mineralisation in the Lachlan Fold belt of New South Wales.

The permit cover about 240 km² on the eastern edge of the Lachlan Fold belt, which contains several small but significant pods of known cobalt-manganese mineralisation.

“This application provides Cazaly with further exposure to the cobalt market, adding to the company’s Mount Tabor project, in Queensland,” noted Cazaly joint MD Clive Jones.

“Pure cobalt mines are a rare breed, making up less than 6% of global cobalt supply, and are set to become increasingly important in this increasingly competitive end-user market,” he added.

New South Wales’ Goulburn region hosts various styles of mineralisation, including base metals, gold, tin, tungsten, manganese, cobalt, nickel and bauxite.

Cazaly noted that the Woodlawn lead/zinc mine, where Heron Resources recently completed a feasibility study into the recommencement of operations, was located just 20 km to the south-west of Cazaly’s project.

Of the prospects, primary areas of interest include the Jacapa prospect, where rock chip samples returned several assays of >1% cobalt, while the Brooklyn prospect saw similar mineralised grits, which extended over 700 m.

Metallurgical testwork previously undertaken was also positive, with “excellent” recoveries of 83.25 cobalt, 79.5% copper and 85.9% nickel returned from acid leaching of an 80 kg sample containing 1.15% cobalt, 0.39% copper and 0.26% nickel.

Cobalt is seeing a resurgence, given its role as a key battery metal alongside graphite and lithium. Cobalt is present in lithium-ion batteries, in the lithium cobaltite cathodes used in smartphones, and in lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt and lithium-nickel-cobalt-aluminium oxide cathodes, which are used in laptops and electric vehicles.

Cobalt supply is currently constrained, as it is typically a by-product of nickel and copper mining, both of which are currently in decline. This, combined with the predicted escalation in demand from the lithium battery market, sees cobalt as being a particularly vulnerable component of the supply chain for battery manufacturers. Battery cell manufacturers who have secure cobalt supply chains will have a critical advantage over their competitors.