LiCo Energy Metals Inc. [LIC-TSXV; WCTXF-OTCQB] said Friday March 6 that the TSX Venture Exchange has approved LiCo’s decision to change its name to Fuse Cobalt Inc. The shares will begin trading under the FUSE ticker symbol on Tuesday, March 10, 2020.
The move comes after LiCo announced the appointment of Robert Setter as its President and CEO, effective March 4, 2020. He is replacing Richard Wilson, who also resigned from the company’s board of directors.
On Friday, LiCo shares eased 6.25% or $0.005 to 7.5 cents. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $0.03 and 24 cents.
LiCo Energy Metals is a grassroots Canadian company that conducts exploration for metals used in the production of lithium-ion batteries. Exploration of these metals has become critical in the face of surging demand for electric vehicles, cell-phones, and many other modern devices.
The junior has projects in mining friendly jurisdictions in Canada, and the United States.
LiCo recently announced that it has successfully negotiated the early termination of an option agreement with Surge Exploration Inc. [SUR-TSXV, CKVLF-OTCQB] that would have given Surge the right to earn a 60% interest in LiCo’s Glencore Buck and Teledyne cobalt properties near Cobalt, northeast Ontario.
By doing so, LiCo will retain a 100% interest in the Glencore Bucke and Teledyne claims. Under the agreement LiCo agreed to issue to Surge 2.5 million fully-paid and non-assessable common shares of LiCo at a deemed price of $0.09 per share upon acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange.
LiCo holds a 100% in interest in the mining rights for the Glencore Bucke property in Bucke Twp after completing its obligations to Glencore Canada Corp. under a mineral property acquisition agreement dated August 31, 2017,
The purchase agreement included a back-in provision, production royalty and an off-take agreement in favour of Glencore, which ranks as one of the world’s largest producers of cobalt. Glencore Canada is a subsidiary of Glencore Plc of Baar, Switzerland
Strategically, the Glencore Bucke property consists of 16.2 hectares and sits along the west boundary of LiCo’s 100%-owned Teledyne Cobalt Project. Teledyne covers the southern extension of the former producing 15 Vein on the past-producing Agnico Mine Property.
Historically, the Agnico Mine produced 4,350,000 pounds of cobalt and 980,000 ounces of silver during the mining boom of the early 1900s.
Aside from the Ontario properties, Lico has an option agreement whereby the company may earn an undivided 100% interest, subject to a 3% net smelter return royalty, in the Black Rock Desert Lithium Project in southwest Black Rock Desert, Washoe County, Nevada.
The asset portfolio previously included the Purickuta Project in Chile. It covers 160 hectares and is one of the few “exploitation concessions” granted within the Salar de Atacama, which is home to 37% of the world’s lithium production.
However, LiCo formally dropped the Purickuta property last year due to unworkable property conditions.