CEO RAMBLINGS - FEBRUARY 1, 2019

Am I a lucky CEO or what? Talk about being in the right place at just the right time. I recently wrote a CEO Ramblings which mentioned that Canada's first primary cobalt mine should be in production in the early 2020s and that they would be obliged to transport their cobalt concentrate more than 1,000 miles to the nearest refinery for processing. Imagine the costs.  Atacama's cobalt properties are located just a few kilometers(miles) from the only fully permitted refinery in North America capable of extracting cobalt to produce battery grade material. I am guessing that the transportation of Atacama's cobalt concentrate would be less that a half hour to get it to the refinery. It is located five kilometers east of the mining town of Cobalt, Ontario with the refinery and settling ponds sitting on 40 acres and the facility is permitted to expand up to 120 acres as demand requires. The Company that owns the refinery will use it to process its own cobalt from local mines as well as its mine located in Idaho. It is also open to the idea of allowing outside companies (here read Atacama) to refine their cobalt as well. A 2012 report estimated the replacement value of the refinery to be in the US $78 million range. What I like about it, as CEO of Atacama with cobalt holdings nearby, it that has the potential of reducing our production coasts significantly. I am Glenn Grant, CEO of www.acrlintl.com