Electra Battery secures 10-year copper-cobalt exploration permit in Idaho

Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ, TSXV: ELBM) has secured a 10-year exploration permit for its Idaho copper and cobalt properties, covering a total of 91 designated drill pad locations and hundreds of potential drill targets.

Compared to annual permits, this long-term permit “enhances project certainty, offers greater planning flexibility and significantly reduces administrative requirements,” Electra said in a press release Tuesday.

Approved by the US Forestry Service, this permit would enable Electra to advance its exploration of critical mineral resources across the Iron Creek deposit, the Ruby project, and the neighboring CAS and Redcastle option agreement properties.

Trent Mell, Electra’s CEO, said the 10-year exploration permit offers the “necessary regulatory certainty and flexibility” to advance exploration at 91 designated drilling sites, and positions Electra as a potential key contributor to North America’s evolving battery supply chain.

Electra Battery Materials’ stock gained 1.4% to trade at C$0.71 apiece by 1:30 p.m. in Toronto, for a market capitalization of C$40.6 million.

Idaho’s cobalt belt

Electra’s Idaho properties consist of mining patents and exploration claims over an area of more than 73 km². Within its property boundaries are as many as seven occurrences of mineralization exposed on surface or encountered in drilling, with the main mineralized body located on the Iron Creek project.

Iron Creek represents one of several cobalt-copper mineral resources and prospects within the Idaho cobalt belt, a prospective mineralized system that, according to the US Geological Survey, contains copper and the largest primary cobalt resources in the US.

Based on previous infill and step-out drilling, Electra released last year a resource update for Iron Creek that showed 4.5 million indicated tonnes grading 0.19% cobalt and 0.73% copper for 18.4 million lb. of cobalt and 71.5 million lb. of copper, plus 1.2 million inferred tonnes grading at 0.08% cobalt and 1.34% copper for 2.1 million lb. of cobalt and 36.5 million lb. of copper.

On top of this cobalt-copper resource, which has a strike length of 1.65 km, the Iron Creek property position also covers a highly perspective and underexplored land package including the CAS and Redcastle properties. A second important target has also been identified on the Ruby property.

Near-term focus

CEO Mell noted in Tuesday’s release that the company’s primary near-term focus is still completing construction of its proposed battery-grade cobalt refinery in Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, which would be the first of its kind in North America.

Once fully commissioned, this facility could produce up to 6,500 tonnes of cobalt per year, which the company estimates could support the production of over 1 million electric vehicles annually. South Korea’s LG Energy Solution has already announced it intends to purchase up to 80% of capacity over the first five years of operation.

The refinery project has so far received fundings from both the US and Canadian governments. Its estimated cost is around $250 million.