dollars per metric ton unit CIF between 20. "The ICP is a valuable asset and we intend to preserve it for future development once conditions improve," she said.Global manganese prices are expected to remain flat at around 4.5 U.S. Even so, the company isn't abandoning the project, Green said in a statement. "Sometimes great ideas have to wait for their time to come."Īs of December, Formation still hoped to begin underground construction using a $5 million cash infusion from a private investor to prepare for the work and winterize the project.īut work beyond that was predicated on larger financing that never materialized. "It's not like this is the only mining outfit in the world that's cutting back right now," Cope said, adding he's optimistic Formation will reinvigorate operations as market conditions recover. in neighboring Custer County suspended expansion plans at its molybdenum mine in a move that will cut 100 jobs through 2014. Late last year, Thompson Creek Metals Co. Robert Cope, a commissioner in central Idaho's Lemhi County that had hoped to see a boost to its local economy, pointed out other mines in the region are retrenching, too, with metals prices in the cellar.
#CURRENT COBALT PRICE PER POUND HOW TO#
Forest Service in 2008 and that same year won kudos from environmental groups, including the Idaho Conservation League, after striking a pact over how to manage and reclaim the site. The Idaho mine project had secured permits from the U.S. The dip comes as the Chinese economy has slowed, leading the nation to purchase less cobalt, which has reduced demand and lowered prices all around, Honsinger said. Geological Survey based on prices from the London Metal Exchange. That's about the time when Formation Metals said it could yield about $46 million of the strategic metal annually.īut since then, its price has languished, trading at around $12 per pound recently, according to a report from the U.S. Under these current market conditions, it's difficult to do."Ĭobalt prices peaked at more than $50 per pound in 2007. "One of our jobs is to try to get the best deal possible for our shareholders. "In order for the lenders to mitigate the risk, they increase the rates, for one," said Formation spokesman Rick Honsinger from the company's British Columbia offices on Monday. Now, the project - and the 150 full-time jobs that were to accompany it - is in limbo, at least until metals price improve and financing materializes. In the meantime, however, her Vancouver, British Columbia-based company is in retrenchment mode, slashing jobs and salaries and focusing on boosting its separate business at its precious metals refinery near Kellogg in northern Idaho's Silver Valley.įormation had aimed to construct the nation's largest cobalt mine in the Salmon-Challis National Forest to unearth the strategic metal used in jet engines, hybrid vehicle batteries, and prosthetic knees and hips. said the company's Idaho Cobalt Project aims to be ready when prices rebound and investors return. BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A proposed Idaho cobalt mine with government approval and support from environmental groups has nixed its project, for now, because it said the price of the metal is too low and risk-averse financiers are demanding unfavorable terms to lend it money.Ĭhief Executive Officer Mari-Ann Green of Formation Metals Inc.
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