[Upper5Percent]

An investment firm founded by Russian billionaire Vladimir Iorich is following its winning bet on cobalt this year by creating a $150 million fund to buy into metals used in electric cars.

Pala New Energy Metals will invest in cobalt, lithium, vanadium, rare earths, nickel and tin. Pala Investments Ltd. started the fund with its own money and cash from other investors. The firm previously snapped up cobalt, anticipating surging demand from automakers that more than doubled prices in the past year.

“We have been focused on the evolution of the battery chemistries and this has allowed us to invest early in different components of the battery," Stephen Gill, managing partner at Zug, Switzerland-based Pala Investments, said in an interview. "We hope to continue to be ahead of the curve as technologies evolve."

 

[jsmay311]

If the Y-axes on those charts went down to zero, they would look a lot less dramatic.

Similarly so if the X-axes weren't cut off around the end of Q1 2017, making it look like the price is continuing upward at a frightening rate, when in actuality it has leveled off quite a bit over the last 4-5 months.

And similarly, again, the 2nd chart would look even less dramatic still if the last few years on the X-axis weren't bizarrely smushed together to make the price swings look more abrupt than they actually were.

Nevertheless, the overall story/trajectory is true. Prices are up significantly over the past 12 months.

 

[AtomicPowered]

Another in the series "Electric cars causing world havoc". Cobalt is in plentiful supply in the universe. It is primarily used in jet engines, nuclear, medicine and even oil drilling. Much is used in loudspeakers. After instability in the primary source, Congo DR, new mines were opened around the world. Supplies have sky-rocketed. If the price increases enough other sources will be found.

 

[Upper5Percent]

Another in the series "Electric cars causing world havoc". Cobalt is in plentiful supply in the universe. It is primarily used in jet engines, nuclear, medicine and even oil drilling. Much is used in loudspeakers. After instability in the primary source, Congo DR, new mines were opened around the world. Supplies have sky-rocketed. If the price increases enough other sources will be found.

Nope...this is just a reminder there is money in metals...other than gold, silver and platinum...

 

[viking79]

Nope...this is just a reminder there is money in metals...other than gold, silver and platinum...

Yup, my Lithium miner has done pretty well too, wish I invested more of course...

 

[Upper5Percent]

The world's automotive industry is "waking up too late" to the fact that China will hold most of the world’s supply of cobalt, a key metal for electric vehicle batteries, says Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg.

“If cobalt falls into the hands of the Chinese, you won’t see EVs being produced in Europe etc. They are waking up too late," Glasenberg said today at the Financial Times Commodities Global Summit. "I think it’s because the car industry has never had a supply chain problem before.”

The CEO said he nevertheless could sell cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo - home to more than 60% of the world's cobalt production - to China if the price is right; Glencore, the world’s biggest producer of the metal, agreed last week to sell a third of its output to China’s GEM.

Expectations of supply shortages have sparked a rally that has lifted cobalt prices to ~$39/lb. from near $10 in January 2016.

 

[Mister Dave]

Posted it elsewhere but it may fit here too....

Samsung in Talks for Multi-Year Cobalt Deal From Congo

Samsung C&T Corp., an affiliate of the world’s biggest smartphone maker, is in talks for a multi-year deal to buy cobalt from a Congolese miner, joining Apple Inc. in the global rush to secure supplies of the metal at the heart of the electric-car boom.

Samsung C&T has approached Somika SPRL to buy cobalt produced at its Kisanfu mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo after only buying copper from the company for the past four years, according to people familiar with the situation. It’s unclear how much cobalt will be bought and Samsung still needs to complete tests on the shipping cost and potential users, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.

Somika Chairman Chetan Chug confirmed talks with Samsung C&T but declined to elaborate because no agreement has been reached. The miner has been approached for talk by Chinese and Korean makers of cobalt products.....(more at Bloomberg)

 

[Jmaj]

So my Bolt battery is going up, up, up, in value. Nice.

 

[supchrgamx]

or about to go down
http://www.mining.com/new-study-rips-cobalt-lithium-price-bulls/