Cobalt Blue wants to identify a 100 million tonne inferred resource and complete a scoping study mid-year at the Thackaringa cobalt project, with completion of a full feasibility targeted by mid-2019.

Thackaringa is currently owned by Broken Hill Prospecting, with Cobalt Blue to spend $10.35 million in exploration and project development studies, and thereafter make a decision to mine and secure project financing by mid-2020.

Successful completion of these milestones and a final payment of $7.5 million to BPL will result in Cobalt Blue gaining 100% of the project.

BPL currently holds a 77.8% interest in Cobalt Blue, and is planning to distribute this stake in-specie to its shareholders.

BPL’s core focus is mineral sands in the Murray Basin.

The BPL stake and a 22.2% seed investor stake will dilute to a 47.37% in Cobalt Blue if the non-underwritten $10 million IPO is successful.

Cobalt Blue’s CEO is to be Josef Kaderavek, with the engineer spending over 15 years in equities-investment research as well as being “an experienced manager of turnaround projects covering global resources and mineral processing”.

The chairman of Cobalt Blue is businessman Robert Biancardi, while BPL’s CEO Trangie Johnston is to be a non-exec director, as will lawyer Hugh Keller.                              

The Cobalt Blue IPO seeks to cash in on the boom in rechargeable batteries, as well as the demand for cobalt to be used in super alloys for turbines and motors.

The company is also seeking to invest in energy storage (battery) technologies that may complement the production of cobalt in commercialising battery and associated energy storage technologies.

“Of particular interest is the life cycle of rechargeable batteries, and as such, this investment may range from ‘cradle’ (for example micro or nano technologies enabling more effective energy densities, depth of discharge characteristics, lowering cost of production) to ‘grave’ (for example recycling of life-expired batteries and reclamation of high value elements),” Cobalt Blue said.

However development of Thackaringa is the company’s “core” objective, with the project seen as being potentially large and secure supply source for a market which currently obtains 65% of its cobalt from central Africa.

Cobalt Blue’s name references Vincent van Gogh, who wrote to his brother that cobalt (blue) was a “divine colour and there is nothing so beautiful for putting atmosphere around things …”.

In other words, ‘the vibe’!