First Cobalt expands ground at Iron Creek with Redcastle property option

First Cobalt Corp (CVE:FCC) (OTCQX:FTSSF) (FRA:18P) revealed that it has further expanded its footprint at its Iron Creek project in Idaho, USA, by striking an earn-in deal for the Redcastle property, which spans 224 hectares, and lies immediately east of the project.

The Redcastle property, optioned from Phoenix Copper Ltd, comprises 31 claims and expands the size of First Cobalt’s ground to more than 1,820 hectares. It lies just east of the firm’s Ruby Zone cobalt-copper prospect, which is exposed at surface, and First Cobalt believes the sulfide mineralisation there extends into Redcastle.

READ: First Cobalt awards cobalt sulfate crystallizer contract as it updates on Canadian refinery commissioning

“We believe this area shows great promise for cobalt and copper mineralization, which would complement our strategy of expanding the Iron Creek deposit and its extensions.” said First Cobalt CEO Trent Mell in a statement.

Located in the Idaho Cobalt Belt, the Iron Creek project is one of the few primary cobalt deposits in the world. The resource remains open westward along strike and down-dip, and, to date, cobalt-copper mineralization has been defined over a 900 metre (m) strike extent.

The project currently hosts a higher confidence indicated resource of 2.2 million tonnes at 0.32% cobalt equivalent (0.26% cobalt and 0.61% copper) for 12.3 million pounds of contained cobalt and 29 million pounds of contained copper.

“The United States Government has announced several initiatives in support of reducing the reliance on imports of critical minerals such as cobalt. The Idaho Cobalt Belt can provide a significant and secure domestic cobalt supply for the US market. First Cobalt has made it its mission to produce the world’s most sustainable cobalt,” added Mell.

Under the terms of the Redcastle deal with Phoenix Copper, First Cobalt can earn a 51% stake by paying US$50,000 initially, incurring US$1.5 million in expenditures over three years, issuing 200,000 shares and making staged payments of US$100,000. It can lift this to 75% upon incurring an additional US$1.5 million in expenditures and making a payment of US$150,000 over another two years.

First Cobalt owns North America’s only permitted cobalt refinery, a critical asset in the development and manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs). It sits north of Toronto and could produce over 25,000 tonnes of cobalt sulfate per year from third-party feed.

The company also owns the Iron Creek cobalt-copper project in Idaho as well as several significant cobalt and silver properties in the Canadian Cobalt Camp.

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