Canada Silver Cobalt Works aiming to unlock value to build a big player in Canada's heartland for the two metals

Located in the birthplace of Canadian hard rock mining Experienced team Vertically integrated operation What Canada Silver Cobalt Works does: Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc (CVE:CCW) (OTCMKTS:CCWOF) says it is strategically positioned in Canada's heartland to become a leader in the silver-cobalt space. The cobalt camp in the Gowganda district of northern Ontario is one of the few places globally where silver and cobalt can be mined together as primary metals because cobalt is usually a by-product of copper and nickel mining. The firm's goal is to resume mining at the formerly producing Castle and Beaver mines, which generated 9.5 million ounces silver (and 300,000 pounds of cobalt) and 7.1 million ounces silver (and 139,000 pounds cobalt) respectively. It says previous mining in the last century focused on high-grade silver veins, leaving behind low-grade silver veins even if they contained high-grade cobalt and nickel. The group's flagship asset is the Castle mine - the only permitted underground asset in the Ontario camp - which still has all three existing shafts, and the 78 square kilometres Castle property where only silver in a small area was targeted. It also has the Beaver and Violet cobalt/silver properties located in the township of Coleman. Violet, which hosts five known veins, produced a total of 897,291 ounces of silver from 1919-1925 after which mining operations were suspended until 1951/2. Production from 1950s activity was grouped in with other mines in the Cobalt camp. How is it doing: In January this year, Canada Silver Cobalt Works announced a high-grade silver discovery at Castle East - one of the most significant new grassroots silver finds in the area for decades. Intersected in surface drilling at the Robinson zone was up to 70,380 grams per ton (g/t) of silver over three metres (m) less than 2 kilometres east of the Castle Mine shafts. A maiden NI-43 101 resource posted in May for Zones 1A and 1B at the Robinson zone showed inferred resources of a total of 7.56 million silver ounces using a cut-off grade of 258 g/t silver equivalent. Having sunk about 3,000m of drilling at Castle the firm plans an aggressive program of up to 10,000m to 15,000m in the first phase to expand that resource and prepare for ramp permitting and construction. It also wants to develop new targets at the Castle mine in preparation for fresh underground drilling. The firm recently announced the acquisition of Temiskaming Testing Labs (formerly PolyMet) for a total cost of C$311,00, which is an ISO certified laboratory and processing facility in the town of Cobalt. This gives the company multiple potential revenue streams such as bullion pouring, bulk sampling, commercial assaying, and e-waste processing. It also provides space for the company’s proprietary Re-2OX technology. In layman's terms, this is a process designed to efficiently extract cobalt and produce cobalt sulphate to specifications required by battery sector end-users. On the management front, on June 30, geologist Matt Halliday was promoted to Canada Silver Cobalt Works' president and chief operating officer (COO). On September 3, the firm revealed it had closed a private placement, increasing it by an additional $50,000 to bring the total funds raised in all tranches to C$6.74 million to be used for ongoing drilling of the Castle East Robinson Zone discovery and for working capital. Inflection points: Drilling results Update on activity relating to Re-2OX process Cobalt and silver moves What the boss says: Commenting after his promotion, Canada Silver Cobalt Works' president and chief operating officer (COO) Matt Halliday said he was excited to take on his new and expanded responsibilities to take the firm to the "next level". "We not only have the grade at Castle East but the opportunity for tremendous scale given the extent of untested ground in a camp where it appears the old-timers, despite mining around 70 million ounces of silver, took only the low-hanging ‘fruit’. He added: "We will use the Castle East discovery in unlocking the value of the adjacent Castle mine and all other company assets including Temiskaming Testing Laboratories, following a path that helped build Agnico Eagle – former operator of the Castle mine - into the mining giant it is today." Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com