PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Metals miner and developer Metals X has told shareholders that it was weighing its options at its Wingellina and Maroochydore projects, in Western Australia, as cobalt prices and demand surged.
The company said that the surge in cobalt prices and the ‘apparent fundamental shift’ in cobalt demand had to potential to justify the development of the Wingellina project as either a stand-alone cobalt project, or a more typical nickel project with strong co-product revenue.
The Wingellina project remains one of the largest undeveloped nickel-cobalt-scandium deposits in the world, with a mineral resource of over 1.9-million tonnes of nickel, 154 000 t of cobalt and an ore reserve containing some 1.56-million tonnes of nickel and 122 000 t of cobalt.
In addition, the company’s Maroochydore copper prospect also hosts a mineral resource of some 486 000 t of contained copper and 18 500 t of contained cobalt, with Metals X saying that additional exploration potential at the project was currently being reviews as an opportunity for a substantial development project.