Anthony Milewski: Electric Vehicle Demand to Drive Cobalt To New Heights
Anthony discusses the electric vehicle market and the metals required in producing batteries. He really focused on cobalt, since it’s a byproduct of nickel and copper mining, and hence there are few primary cobalt deposits. This will create supply side issues as one should expect an enormous demand for electric vehicles. If the cobalt price were to double, there would be only minimal impacts on the overall cost of an electric vehicle.
Lithium is a primary metal with primary deposits, while cobalt is a different animal, with the overwhelming majority of production coming from secondary mine sources. Even at much higher prices for cobalt you would not be building a primary cobalt mine, but would be bound by the prices of other metals. Cobalt price have to go materially higher to incentivize mine development, mines will then take at least three to five years to build.
There are few ways to invest in cobalt. With Cobalt 27 (CVE:KBLT) he is trying to put together an investment grade product for institutions and retail investors. They have 2158 metric tons of cobalt, so are backed by the actual physical. They are planning to raise additional capital, to purchase more physical and acquire producing streams to transition to being a streaming company.
He discusses Cobalt 27’s upside potential when compared to other resource development stocks. In the short term he expects to trade at a premium to net asset value and over time at a multiple, as they transition to a streaming company. When you purchase the stock, you are buying into participation in the cobalt upside, into the physical story, which is underpinned by these assets.
Talking Points From This Week’s Episode
• High demand for cobalt in E.V. is creating demand for a metal that no one was interested in before.
• Feels adoption of electric vehicles will occur quite rapidly.
• Cobalt is needed along with lithium in the manufacturing of rechargeable batteries
• The demand side is in-elastic, higher prices are not going to affect demand.
Mr. Anthony D. Milewski, Jr., serves as a Managing Director at Pala Investments Limited and as Senior Advisor of Reuben Brothers Resources. He is a Principal at Black Vulcan Resources and has been the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. since April 20, 2017. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Indus Energy NL from 2012 to 2016. His oil and gas experience included projects in a broad range of jurisdictions and play types, including: North America, Africa, Russia, Kazakhstan and South East Asia. Mr. Milewski has spent his career in various aspects of the mining industry, including as a company director, advisor, founder and investor. He has managed numerous mining investments at various stages of development.
Mr. Milewski holds a B.A. in Russian history from Brigham Young University, an M.A. in Russian and Central Asian studies from the University of Washington and a J.D. from the University of Washington. He holds an LLM in Corporate Finance and Russian law from the Russian Academy of Sciences.