CRITICAL MINERALS - COBALT

PRISM is Developing a World-Scale Portfolio of Critical Minerals

Cobalt

Cobalt has been successfully recovered in preliminary carbonyl tests from PRISM’s Clear Hills resource. With further resource assessments and process development Cobalt may therefore be produced as a co-product.

Cobalt is key ingredient in Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) lithium-ion batteries. Its addition to the mix greatly improves battery cycle life. NMC batteries are amongst the highest power by weight and power by volume battery chemistries.

Although the dominant chemistry in the 2010s, the lithium-ion battery industry’s focus has recently shifted towards Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP). The rise of LFP has been driven primarily by Chinese manufacturers and their ability to improve its performance. In markets where longer range (i.e power density) is more desirable such as North America - there remains a latent demand for NMC battery chemistries.

Cobalt - Definitely not “flavour of the month”

The cobalt market globally has faced a range of challenges related to Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) concerns notably accusations of child participation at DRC artisan mines and, following their invasion of Ukraine, a wish to minimize use of a metal dominated by Russian supply.

The concurrent impact of these negative effects fueled that strategic shift in battery chemistries from NMC to LFP.

In light of these two strategic concerns PRISM believes that creating a steady, domestic supply of cobalt would likely incentivize a shift to NMC or similar chemistries - especially for applications that demand the highest energy density (e.g performance vehicles and aircraft).