Cobalt, is found in the Wilcherry Hill-Gawler area. Cobalt current price $27000 a tonne on the LME
Cobalt Cobalt was discovered in 1735 by the Swedish chemist George Brandt. It is a silvery white magnetic metal of low strength and ductility at normal temperatures but ductile at high temperatures. Cobalt occurs naturally as the arsenide Co(As2), known as smaltite or speiss cobalt; as cobalt sulfarsenide (CoAsS), known as cobaltite or cobalt glance; and as hydrated arsenate (Co(AsO4)2.8H2O), known as erythrite or cobalt bloom.
Cobalt is chiefly used for making alloys, particularly thermally resistant super alloys for industry and aircraft gas turbine engines. Other alloys include:
cobalt steel for making permanent magnets carboloy (tungsten carbide) and stellite (chromium–cobalt), both of which are extremely hard and used for drilling, cutting and machining steel. Cobalt is also a used in the production of rechargable batteries.
The annual world production of cobalt is ~36 900 t (2002), largely as a by-product of nickel and copper production. Zambia, Australia and Canada are the world's leading producers. Australia produced 6600 t in 2002 from lateritic nickel-cobalt deposits and ultra-mafic hosted nickel-copper sulphide deposits in Western Australia.
Gawler Craton and Stuart Shelf South Australia’s total recorded production of cobalt is ~2900 t as a by-product from the Mount Gunson Copper Mine. Between 1974 and 1986, the mine produced 290 000 t of mixed sulphide concentrate containing approximately 44.8% Cu, 10.6% Zn, 2.6% Pb, 1% Co, 0.15% Bi, 0.08% Ni and 214 g/t Ag from 7.5 Mt of ore. Production was from the Cattlegrid deposit, with cobalt occurring as carrollite (Cu(CoNi)2S4).
Mineralisation is principally in the upper surface of a palaeo-permafrost brecciated sandstone of the pre-Adelaidean Pandurra Formation, which is unconformably overlain by Adelaidean Whyalla Sandstone.
Other resources in the area include an indicated 18.7 Mt at 1% Cu, 0.05% Co and 10 g/t Ag at Windabout prospect, and 1.1 Mt at 1.7% Cu, 0.04% Co and 17 g/t Ag at MG 14 prospect.
Other occurrences include Olympic Dam, where carrollite is a minor mineral in the Cu–U–Au–Ag ore, and Wallaroo copper mines at Kadina, where cobaltite was found associated with chalcopyrite.
TRF Price at posting:
11.0¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
