Ann: Cloncurry East Project Drilling Programme to Commence, page-4

Here's a couple of interesting charts showing the market's appetite for quality polymetallic plays at the moment.

Both were flatlining ...until:


On Friday, G88 announced wide intercepts at its new Nickel-Cobalt discovery:





KERPOW!!!   Market cap at today's close: $43m.



And this morning, GBR announced a Copper-Nickel-Cobalt discovery at its Mt Venn project:





WHOOSHA, likewise!  Market cap at today's close: $48m.


Here's why I think Magnum Mining could be next cab off the rank.

The Company currently has an active program of drilling on its Cloncurry East Project in north-west Queensland, and results are due shortly.

The project area contains two advanced resource targets – Salebury, which already has initial (2004 JORC) indicated and inferred resource of 1.3 million tonnes grading 0.9% Copper and 0.5g/t Gold, and Notlor where previous exploration has outlined a coherent zone of mineralisation of similar grade, and which is also open at depth and along strike.

Significantly, broad zones within both prospects appear to contain 300-500ppm Cobalt with enriched sections grading between 1,000 (0.1%) – 3,000ppm (0.3%) Co.

So, it's Copper-Gold-Cobalt in sunny Queensland. And results not too far down the track.

We hear a lot about the impact of the rise of electric vehicles on demand for some of the more exotic base metals. But what of good ol' Copper?

Interestingly, new research commissioned by the International Copper Association (ICA) predicts that an increase in the demand for electric cars and buses will significantly impact the Copper market.

Each type of EV uses considerably more Copper than traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines. Here's how the numbers stack up:

- Internal combustion engine: 23 kg of Copper.
- Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV): 40 kg of Cu.
- Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV): 60 kg of Cu.
- Battery electric vehicle (BEV): 83 kg of Cu.
- Hybrid electric bus (Ebus HEV): 89 kg of Cu.
- Battery-powered electric bus (Ebus BEV): 224–369 kg of Cu (depending on the size of the battery).


So predicted demand looks like this:




- By 2027, an estimated 27 million electric vehicles (including HEV, PHEV, BEV, Ebus HEV and BEV) will be on the road, up from only 3 million in 2017.
- This will raise Copper demand in EVs from 185,000 tonnes in 2017 to 1.74 million tonnes in 2027.
- In addition, each EV charger will add 0.7 kg of Copper. Fast chargers can add up to 8 kg of Copper each.


All just interesting sidelights. But part of the reason I'm pretty keen on this quite overlooked Copper-Gold-Cobalt sleeper.


[Of course, all the usual caveats apply.]