Cobalt

Canadian mining company Sherritt International Corporation has appointed finance veteran Fitzroy Richardson as interim CFO effective immediately, as the company works to complete outstanding quarterly filings and seeks revocation of a failure-to-file cease trade order issued by the Ontario Securities Commission on May 21. The appointment follows acute financial, legal and operational challenges stemming from expanded US sanctions against Cuba announced on May 1, which have forced Sherritt to suspend direct participation in joint venture activities in the country where it operates strategically important nickel and cobalt mining operations. Meanwhile, the UN Economic Commission for Africa has launched a €15-million, five-year regional project to strengthen environmentally and socially responsible critical minerals value chains across six Southern African Development Community countries, targeting sustainable industrialisation, value addition and job creation in a region that holds significant global reserves of cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese, nickel and platinum-group metals.

Sherritt operates a strategically important refinery in Alberta, Canada, recognised as the only significant cobalt refinery and one of just three nickel refineries in North America, using hydrometallurgical processes to mine and refine nickel and cobalt. Richardson brings nearly 30 years of experience at Sherritt, having held senior finance and treasury roles and most recently serving as president of subsidiary New Providence Metals Marketing, and his appointment is intended to provide experienced financial leadership as the corporation addresses the US executive order targeting almost any non-US citizen or entity conducting business in Cuba's key sectors including defence, mining, finance and security.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa's regional project, titled 'Fostering Environmentally and Socially Responsible, Decarbonised, Inclusive and Transformative Value Chains for Critical Energy Transition Minerals in the SADC Region', was officially launched in Lusaka, Zambia, on June 2 and will run from 2026 to 2031 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The project aims to help countries move beyond raw mineral exports by promoting beneficiation, industrial production and stronger linkages between the extractive sector and the wider economy, with the mining industry already contributing between 7% and 25% of GDP in several Southern African countries.

Vedanta spin-off CopperTech Metals has filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering on the NYSE, though the number of shares and price range have not yet been determined. The integrated copper and cobalt producer controls one of the largest copper systems in the Central African Copperbelt through its flagship 79%-owned Konkola Copper Mines asset in Zambia's Copperbelt province, and has earmarked about $2.7-billion for planned capital expenditure between the 2027 and 2031 financial years, targeting average production of 270 000 t/y from 2030 as demand grows across AI infrastructure, data centres and grid electrification.

Lifezone Metals' Kabanga nickel project in Tanzania is advancing towards a final investment decision targeted for 2026, following completion of a feasibility study in July 2025 that confirmed post-tax net present value of about $1.58-billion at an 8% discount rate and an internal rate of return of 23.3%. The project, which is 84%-owned by Lifezone Metals and 16%-owned by the government of Tanzania, is designed for a 3.4-million-tonne-a-year underground mine and concentrator expected to produce 902 000 t of nickel, 134 000 t of copper and 69 000 t of cobalt in concentrate over an 18-year mine life, with Tanzania's government set to benefit from a 16% carried interest, about $1.2-billion in royalties, fees, levies and duties, and roughly $2.4-billion in corporate income taxes over the life of the mine.

Jinchuan Group International Resources said an independent probe found that nearly $145-million was siphoned from its copper and cobalt operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo through fake procurement deals, cash payments and fabricated invoices at Ruashi Mine, with the alleged fraud largely carried out between 2019 and 2024 when rising copper and cobalt prices pushed the mine to scramble for ore supplies. Investigators found $137.4-million in payments to 12 suppliers and $7.1-million paid to a former employee's personal bank account related to an alleged misappropriation scheme, with the company reporting the matter to prosecutors in Congo, dismissing or suspending implicated employees and halting business dealings with several suppliers as it works toward resuming trading in its Hong Kong shares.