Jervois suspends final construction and full concentrator commissioning at its ICO mine site in the USA. 

According to Jervois, the suspension of Idaho Cobalt Operations (ICO) construction is due to falling cobalt prices and extensive construction costs. In October 2022, Jervois announced it had completed mine construction at ICO and was waiting for completed test works for the processing and construction of its concentrator. Nonetheless, the company had started producing ore ready to be processed and by Q1 2023 30kt of ore was stockpiled. Despite success in its mining operation, Jervois revealed that current inflationary construction costs in the USA and macro environment have been challenging. Since December 2022, its expenditure on construction has decreased from a drawn balance of US$115M to US$70M in March 2023.

Jervois acquired the São Miguel Paulista (SMP) nickel refinery in Brazil for US$22.5M in 2020 where it had planned on refining its ICO Cu-Co concentrate.  Cobalt broken cathodes would then be imported back into the USA for consumption. Historically, the SMP refinery sourced feedstock from the Niquelândia mine in Brazil as well as third-party nickel carbonate from the Yabulu refinery in Australia, cobalt hydroxide from the DRC and Ni-Co mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) from Ravensthorpe in Australia and Goro in New Caledonia.

Overall, delays in ICO’s cobalt production will impact Jervois’ timeframe in creating a mine-to-market integrated operation with its SMP refinery and plans to become the only primary cobalt mine in the USA. It also suggests that Jervois might have to rely more heavily upon third-party feedstock at SMP, especially if it is still on track with refurbishing construction at its refinery and planned commercial production here in Q1 2024.