Jervois Global Limited’s (ASX: JRV) (TSX-V: JRV) subsidiary, Jervois Mining USA, has entered into an agreement with the United States Department of Defense (DoD).
The funding agreement will see Jervois begin the work with US$15 million funding to advance US cobalt supply chain security.
The Agreement Funding is under the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCIEP) office of Industrial Base Policy (IBP) using the US Defense Production Act (DPA) authorities and utilises funds from the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act.
Jervois’ mineral resource drilling program at its wholly-owned Idaho Cobalt Operations mine (ICO) will be accelerated by the Agreement Funding. The drilling programme will define and expand ICO’s RAM deposit existing cobalt resources and, also potentially, delineate the adjacent Sunrise historic resource to modern geological standards.
The Agreement Funding will also fund a bankable feasibility study (BFS) for a cobalt refinery in the US to be completed by a Jervois subsidiary delegated by Jervois Mining USA. Preparation of Jervois’ US refinery BFS will be expedited by benefitting from efficiencies provided by the Company’s decision to pivot to the US refinery BFS its efforts and work-in- progress on a cobalt refinery expansion BFS at Jervois Finland, as announced on 18 April 2023.
Jervois Finland is Jervois’ wholly-owned cobalt refining and advanced manufacturing operation in Kokkola, Finland; existing cobalt refinery design and work product including flowsheet will be utilized in preparing the US refinery BFS.
Jervois suspended final construction at ICO in late March 2023 due to continuing low cobalt prices and US inflationary impacts on construction costs, to prudently preserve the value of ICO’s cobalt ore body.
The company expects cobalt prices to recover over the medium term, driven by the energy transition (such as the growth of electric vehicle adoption etc.) and a growing demand trend for cobalt with Western ESG credentials, such as cobalt from ICO.
ICO’s mineral resource and reserve is the largest and highest grade confirmed cobalt orebody in the U.S. and, when commissioned, ICO will be the US’ only primary cobalt mine. Cobalt is a critical mineral as declared by the US Government due to cobalt’s defense, military and energy transition applications.
For further information please visit: https://jervoisglobal.com/
