Talga to manage Swedish cobalt assets separately

9th May 2018 By: Esmarie Iannucci - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Talga Resources has launched an internal restructure of its assets, which will see the establishment of a separate Swedish domiciled cobalt company.

The restructure will result in Talga’s Swedish cobalt assets, which are close to key emerging European battery markets, being separately sourced as the company focused on its primary advanced graphite/graphene projects for global energy and industrial applications.

Talga told shareholders on Wednesday that the restructure was designed to form a separate management team to advance the four cobalt projects through exploration and development, leaving the current Talga management to focus on graphite/graphene commercialisation.

The restructure would also increase funding, development and future commercialisation options for the cobalt assets, including the potential spin-off of the subsidiary, while also creating a cobalt-focused vehicle to pursue the value opportunity created by the escalating price of cobalt and growing European battery market demand for locally and responsibly sourced cobalt.

Furthermore, the restructure is expected to deliver operational and financial efficiencies across assets held by Talga.

Talga said that its board would carefully consider each potential commercialisation option for the cobalt business once the restructure has been completed, and further work has been undertaken on these assets.

A final decision was unlikely until early 2019, the company said, ensuring there was adequate time to collect data, and review and select the best commercialisation option to create maximum value for shareholders.