PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX- and TSX-V-listed Jervois Global will accelerate exploration at its Idaho Cobalt Operations (ICO) and a bankable feasibility study (BFS) for a cobalt refinery in the US, as funding from the US government gets under way.

The company on Friday told shareholders it had entered into an agreement with the US Department of Defence (DoD), allowing the company to begin the work funded by the previously announced $15-million funding from the DoD awarded under the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization office.

The accelerated drilling programme at ICO will define and expand the project’s RAM deposit existing cobalt resources and, also potentially, delineate the adjacent Sunrise historic resource to modern geological standards.

Jervois in March suspended final construction at ICO on the back of low cobalt prices, and US inflationary impacts on construction costs. However, the company expected the cobalt prices to recover in the medium-term driven by the energy transition and the growing demand for cobalt.

Meanwhile, preparation for Jervois’ US refinery BFS will be expedited by benefitting from efficiencies provided by the company’s April decision to pivot to the US refinery BFS its efforts and work-in-progress on a cobalt refinery expansion BFS at Jervois Finland.

The BFS now being undertaken would be based on the flowsheet, engineering, environmental assessment and other BFS sections already developed by Jervois Finland and consulting firm AFRY Finland Oy for the expansion in capacity of Jervois’ Kokkola operations by 6 000 at/y of refined cobalt in sulphate.

The company would continue the BFS activities based on situating a 6 000 t/y cobalt refinery in the US, with the product to be exclusively sulphate to focus on demand growth in electric vehicles from American automakers.