Date: Feb 8, 2018
Yilmaden Holding has sent a team of senior representatives to Mining Indaba to secure investment opportunities in markets including cobalt, vanadium and molybdenum.
“Yilmaden is seeking opportunities in strategic minerals. We have had a diversification strategy for years. We think it is going to be a good time to be in strategic minerals and not just because of electric vehicles,” market research and intelligence manager Görkem Kavçak told Metal Bulletin in Cape Town this week.
“There are lots of opportunities; offtake agreements, long-term strategic partnerships and between these options there is a lot of scope,” Kavçak said.
“Commodities are cheap at the moment, unfairly cheap and there will be another bullish period. It’s time to buy, it’s time to invest, as long as an opportunity fits our strategic road map. Cobalt, yes, vanadium and molybdenum definitely,” he added.
Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) head of strategic cobalt marketing Tony Southgate told Metal Bulletin on the sidelines of Mining Indaba on Tuesday February 6 that “the cobalt boom is guaranteed for the next seven to 10 years”.
Metal Bulletin’s benchmark low-grade cobalt price was assessed at $37.25-38.50 per lb on Friday February 2, compared with $35-37 per lb at the end of December and $18-19 per lb a year ago. The high-grade cobalt price was last at $37.50-38.50 per lb.
US ferro-vanadium prices in-warehouse Pittsburgh have risen to $26.70-27.50 per lb on February 1 from $12.20-12.50 per lb a year ago.
US ferro-molybdenum prices have seen similar fortunes, with Metal Bulletin’s in-warehouse Pittsburgh quotation rising to $13-13.65 per lb from $9-9.25 per lb in February 2017.
