Tantalex Resources’ wholly owned subsidiary, United Materials Congo SARL has acquired an important mining claim, Kaseka, known to be highly prospective for copper and cobalt, which was previously owned by Gécamines SA.
The property is located within the mining friendly region of Kolwezi in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is home to several large deposits. It is situated within the prolific Katangan Copperbelt and is defined as a syncline geological formation for which its southern part intersects the Kansuki Fault, and its northern portion intersecting the Kalunkudji Fault. As the northern fault continues a north-eastern direction it widens into the Tenke-Fungurume geological formation. The property has access to available infrastructure such as airports, railways, electricity as well as access to the nearby Kando River, providing ample water supply.
Tantalex's new copper/cobalt property is strategically located, as it is surrounded by several large deposits, the most known being Glencore's world-class copper/cobalt open-pit, the Mutanda Mine (also known as Mumi). In 2016, Mumi produced 51,000 tonnes of copper and 6,300 tonnes of cobalt. Its current estimated mine life is 15 years, with 5.5 million tons of copper and 2 million tons of cobalt mineral resources.
Dave Gagnon comments on the importance of this acquisition, "This acquisition is a very important and a natural fit for us, as we continue to grow our portfolio of high-tech mineral properties in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The addition of cobalt to our current lithium and tantalum properties will allow us to penetrate the high-tech market, and more specifically, the battery market. This is a highly prospective property located within a stone's throw from many deposit. The synergies we have created with local entities have given way to these important developments, especially since over 60% of current global cobalt supply comes from the DRC."
According to UBS (May 2017), "electric vehicles are going to result in a boom for battery materials such as lithium, cobalt and rare earths and in a world where electric vehicles reach 100% of the market, which is decades away, demand for lithium will increase by 2,898%, cobalt by 1,928% and rare earths by 655%".
Cobalt is a hard, lustrous, grey metal with a very high melting point. It is used mainly in the production of chemicals (58%), super alloys for gas turbine blades and jet aircraft engines, special steel, carbides, diamond tools and magnets. The Democratic Republic of Congo holds more than half of the world's cobalt reserves, according to the US Geological Survey.
