First Cobalt (FCC.V) has announced it secured an option to acquire the Keeley-Frontier silver-cobalt mine in Northern Ontario. This transaction was first disputed by Canadian Silver Hunter which claimed it owned the rights, but the latter backed down just one day later as First Cobalt correctly acquired the option on the past-producing mine from private company Cobalt Projects International (for 4.45 million shares of First Cobalt).
Subsequently, First Cobalt can now earn a 100% ownership in Keeley-Frontier by paying C$500,000 and spend at least C$1.75M on exploration within three years, and paying an additional C$950,000 after meeting different milestones and an additional C$1.25M exploration effort on the property.
Keeley-Frontier is a past producing (underground) mine which has 10 existing shafts and has been developed until a depth of 465 meters. The mine has a historical production of 3.3 million pounds of cobalt and 19.1 million ounces of silver, being part of the most prolific cobalt-silver districts in Canada (historical data confirms a total of 600 million ounces of silver and 50 million pounds of cobalt have been produced in the region). The average grade at the Keeley-Frontier mine was 0.5% cobalt and almost 60 ounces (!) of silver per tonne of rock.
A precious drill program completed in 2012 by Canadian Silver Hunter confirms there’s potential to define more high-grade silver and cobalt on the property, and the First Cobalt team will probably be very excited to get into the field.
The author has a long position in First Cobalt. First Cobalt is a sponsor of the website. Please read the disclaimer
