Electra secures 10-year Idaho copper/cobalt permit

Nasdaq- and TSX-V-listed Electra Battery Materials has secured a ten-year exploration permit for its Idaho copper and cobalt properties, including its Iron Creek project, in the Idaho Cobalt Belt, in the US.

Covering 91 designated drill pad locations and hundreds of potential drill targets, this long-term permit enhances project certainty, offers greater planning flexibility, and significantly reduces administrative requirements compared to yearly permits.

Approved by the US Forestry Service, this permit enables Electra to advance its exploration of critical mineral resources essential to the US economy across the Iron Creek deposit, the Ruby project, as well as the neighbouring CAS and Redcastle option agreement properties.

“This permit provides us the necessary regulatory certainty and flexibility to advance exploration at 91 designated drilling sites, and positions Electra as a potential key contributor to North America's evolving battery supply chain,” comments CEO Trent Mell.

He says while Electra’s primary near-term focus is completing construction of North America’s first battery-grade cobalt refinery, the company believes there is substantial potential in the Idaho Cobalt Belt and is eager to resume drilling and field exploration.

“The first Trump administration underscored the strategic importance of securing critical minerals with its 2017 Executive Order 13817, which prioritised identifying and developing domestic mineral resources. Today, as the demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure surges, the urgency for secure, reliable access to key elements such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper continue to grow.”

The Electra Idaho properties consist of mining patents and exploration claims over an area of 73.15 km², including the Iron Creek project, and cover the strike extent of strata hosting the cobalt/copper sulphide mineralisation. Iron Creek is one of several cobalt/copper mineral resources and prospects within the Idaho Cobalt Belt, a prospective mineralised system that contains copper and the largest primary cobalt resources in the US, according to the US Geological Survey.

Historical underground development at Iron Creek includes 600 m of drifting in three adits. A road connects Iron Creek to a state highway and the nearby towns of Challis and Salmon.

Within Electra’s property boundary, there are seven reported occurrences of metallic mineralisation exposed on surface or encountered in drilling. Iron Creek is the main mineralised body and Ruby is the second most important target identified to date.