COBALT 



151 



primary cobalt in the United States is more a func- 

 tion of economics and technological problems than 

 the lack of ore deposits containing cobalt. 



The most thoroughly evaluated deposits of cobalt 

 in the United States contain more than 1.6 billion 

 pounds of cobalt. That amount may soon be increased 

 as the full potential of the great copper-nickel de- 

 posits in the Ely area, Minnesota, is evaluated. 

 Although the ores might be considered marginal, 

 technology is available to recover metal from this 

 type of deposit. Development vs^ork has begun, and 

 cobalt from these deposits may well reach the mar- 

 ket before that from previously known deposits. 



The mixed sulfide ores of the Mississippi Valley 

 type are undoubtedly one of the great resources of 

 cobalt and nickel in the United States. Reserves in 

 the Madison mine, near Fredericktown, Mo., were 

 estimated to contain another 14 million pounds of 

 cobalt in 4.5 million tons of ore containing 0.16- 

 0.18 percent cobalt (Kline and others, 1961). Most 

 of these reserves and many other tons of cobalt re- 

 sources on the east side of the St. Francois Moun- 

 tains remain in the ground because old mining prac- 

 tices required that much of the ore with the highest 

 cobalt content be left because of subsequent benefi- 

 ciation and smelting problems. In 1949, it was 

 estimated that 600,000 pounds of cobalt was lost 

 annually from the lead ore processed in the district 

 (Vhay, 1952, p. 45). By October 1972, all mining 

 operations in the old lead belt on the entire east side 

 of the St. Francois Mountains had ceased. 



The world's identified resources of cobalt (table 

 33) are largely in the lateritic ores of the tropical 

 regions. Production of nickel from laterite is ex- 

 pected to double by 1980, making additional supplies 

 of cobalt increasingly available from this source 

 (Engineering and Mining Journal, 1968, p. 73). It 

 is clear, however, that large amounts of cobalt will 

 continue to become available from other types of 

 deposits, especially the sulfide deposits associated 

 with mafic igneous rocks, as at Sudbury, Ont., and 

 in the Ely area, Minnesota, and the strata-bound 

 deposits of central Africa. 



The minable reserves in the Bou Azzer area, Mo- 

 rocco, are now reported to be so small that mining 

 may soon end (DeHuif, 1971, p. 401) . 



Not included in the world's total of cobalt re- 

 sources in table 33 are those in the less conventional 

 and less well evaluated deposits of manganese nod- 

 ules on the sea floor. Mero (1965, p. 235) estimated 

 that the manganese nodules in the Pacific Ocean 

 alone contain 5.8 billion tons (11.6 trillion pounds) 

 of cobalt. 



Table 33.- 



-Identified resources ' of cobalt in the world 



[ + ^ additional identified resources] 

 Country 



Australia 



Brazil 



Burma 



Canada 



Colombia 



Cuba 



Dominican Republic — 



Finland 



Guatemala 



Japan 



Morocco 



New Caledonia 



New Guinea-Indonesia 



Philippines 



Puerto Rico 



Solomon Island 



Uganda 



U.S.A. 



U.S.S.R. 



Venezuela 



Zaire 



Zambia __ 



Total 



650 



20 + 



35 

 550 



50 



2,312 



196 



50 



100 



6 



15 

 850 



40 

 350 

 150 



50 



18 



1,684+ 



400 



132 



1,500 



766 



9,924 



^ Identified resources: Specific, identified mineral deposits that may or 

 may not be evaluated as to extent and grade, and whose contained 

 minerals may or may not be profitably recoverable with existing tech- 

 nology and economic conditions. 



HYPOTHETICAL RESOURCES 



The world's hypothetical resources of cobalt are 

 very large. Just as with the identified deposits, few 

 of these deposits will be rich enough to mine for 

 cobalt alone. Most of the world's future supplies of 

 cobalt will reach the market as byproducts of other 

 associated metals in greater demand, chiefly nickel, 

 copper, iron, chromium, lead, zinc, precious metals, 

 uranium, and manganese. 



Hypothetical resources of cobalt in the United 

 States probably amount to billions of pounds. Most 

 of these resources are in various types of sulfide ore 

 bodies. 



Large resources already are postulated for the 

 partly evaluated deposits in the gabbro near Ely, 

 Minn. If the cobalt content of 0.038 percent (Grosh 

 and others, 1955) is indicative of the grade of large 

 volumes of rocks, then as much as 12 billion pounds 

 of cobalt may be in these deposits. 



The region around the Gap mine, Lancaster Coun- 

 ty, Pa., probably has not been prospected. The ore 

 body at the Gap mine lies at the extreme west edge 

 of an intrusive mafic complex containing an anortho- 

 sitic core centered in the Coatesville area. Possibili- 

 ties surely are favorable for the discovery of more 

 deposits like the one at the Gap mine. 



Possibilities for the discovery of more bodies of 

 ore in Alaska similar to those already identified 

 should be excellent. Other plutons containing nickel- 

 cobalt-copper deposits may be found near some of 



