Photo: Stephen Lam

Photo: Stephen Lam

There was an interesting article in the Globe today on Tesla that is important to the cobalt market.

Long-term investors can catch a ride with Tesla

Excerpt (emphasis ours):

Think about battery volume alone. Tesla's goal is to ship 700,000 cars in 2019, which requires a 24-fold growth from production volume last quarter. This would give Tesla about 0.7-per-cent global market share but force the entire battery industry to more than double production just to meet Tesla's demand. Imagine if 10 per cent of cars on the road were battery-powered. This would likely require a 20-fold increase in global battery production. Tesla's chief technical officer, JB Straubel called this a "massive revolution in industrialization, on a scale that is kind of hard to imagine."

Source: https://secure.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/gam/20140107/GISTRATLABGROWTH0106ATL

Note that cobalt is critical for manufacturing batteries used in electric vehicles and portable electronic devices. The majority of cobalt is sourced from regions that are politically unstable or prone to export restrictions (the Congo accounts for greater than 50% of global cobalt supply, and China has ~40% of the refining capacity).

Fortune Minerals’ NICO gold-cobalt-bismuth-copper project is positioned to become a reliable North American source of cobalt. The vertically integrated project is comprised of a mine and mill in the Northwest Territories that will produce a bulk concentrate for shipment to a refinery for processing to high value metal products. NICO has received Federal and First Nation approval for the mine and mill and, subject to financing, we will be positioning for the start of construction.

Hope 2014 is starting well for you!

Sincerely,

Fortune Minerals Logo

Troy Nazarewicz, CIM, CPIR
Investor Relations Manager
Fortune Minerals Limited
148 Fullarton Street, Suite 1600
London, Ontario, CANADA
N6A 5P3
www.fortuneminerals.com