Idaho Cobalt Mine: Owner, Status and Resource Data

The Idaho cobalt mine is Idaho Cobalt Operations (ICO), an underground cobalt-copper-gold project near Salmon in Lemhi County. The mine workings are built, but the surface plant is unfinished and nothing is being produced. Its owner suspended final construction on 29 March 2023 because cobalt prices were low and US construction costs were high (Jervois, ASX announcement). Since 9 May 2025 the project has belonged to a Millstreet-controlled company called NewCo, and in August 2026 a US Department of Energy official said it is not operating “because it’s not economic at the moment” (KIFI, 24 August 2026).

That matters for anyone searching the topic. USGS puts US mined cobalt at an estimated 300 tonnes in 2025 and names the Eagle nickel-copper mine in Michigan as the mine that produced cobalt-bearing concentrate (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, February 2026). Idaho is not on that list, so any page that calls it an active producer is out of date. This page sets out the status, the owner, the resource numbers, what a restart needs, and how Idaho compares with other cobalt sources. It is written for investors, consultants and claim owners who want facts they can check.

Is the Idaho cobalt mine open? Status and timeline

ICO sits in the Blackbird district of the Idaho Cobalt Belt, on the Salmon-Challis National Forest side of the Salmon River Mountains. The Idaho Geological Survey calls it “fully permitted” and says the RAM deposit was found in 1997 by eCobalt, which was then called Formation Capital (Idaho Geological Survey Staff Report 23-02). The table below follows the project from the old Blackbird workings to the latest government grant.

The administrators described ICO as a “non-operational mine” in April 2025 and said the site had been demobilised (KPMG administrators’ report). The August 2026 coverage gives no restart date. The Department of Energy official quoted by KIFI tied a future restart to rebuilding US refining, not to the grant itself.

Who owns Idaho Cobalt Operations now?

ICO belongs to NewCo, a Cayman Islands company called New JRV Topco Holdings LLC that was set up on 31 March 2025 to take over the former Jervois group’s main assets: the Idaho mine, a cobalt refinery at Kokkola in Finland and a nickel-cobalt refinery in São Paulo, Brazil (KPMG administrators’ report). The restructuring plan states that Millstreet Capital Management funds would hold more than 90 percent of NewCo’s voting units. The trade press describes Jervois as owned by Boston-based Millstreet (InvestMETS, 21 August 2026).

Three details help with due diligence:

• Old shares are gone. All shares in Jervois Global were cancelled on 9 May 2025 and the company was set to be delisted, with no distribution to shareholders (Challis Messenger). Anyone quoting a “Jervois share price” is describing a security that no longer exists.
• The operating entity. The US mine company has been Jervois Mining USA Limited, a subsidiary of Formation Holdings US, Inc. (Jervois Annual Report 2023). Look for filings under those names.
• Debt behind it. Before the deal, Millstreet held secured and unsecured debt of US$195.6 million against the group, and the plan converted the ICO bonds into NewCo equity (KPMG administrators’ report).

NewCo is a private company, so there is no public share price, production guidance or mineral reserve statement to follow. Public information comes from the grant announcements, court and administrator documents, and state and federal permit records.

What is in the ground: Idaho cobalt resource data

A mineral resource is an estimate of rock that could one day be mined; it is not proof that mining pays. The latest public estimate for the RAM deposit is the April 2023 update, reported at a cut-off grade of 0.20 percent cobalt. Cut-off grade is the lowest grade that is still counted as ore. Jervois reported it as “underground constrained”, meaning only material that could be reached by underground mining is included (Jervois Annual Report 2023).

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Cobalt in the RAM resource by class

Million pounds of contained cobalt, 0.20% cobalt cut-off, underground constrained, April 2023 estimate

In metric terms the measured and indicated classes hold about 19,800 tonnes of cobalt, and the inferred class adds about 8,200 tonnes. “Measured” has the most drilling behind it and “inferred” the least. The ore carries copper and gold as well as cobalt, so the revenue case rests on three metals. The same report shows that the new geological model lowered the measured and indicated tonnage by 11 percent against the 2020 estimate but raised the cobalt grade by 6 percent and the copper grade by 12 percent.

The geology is distinctive. Cobalt in the belt occurs as cobaltite beside chalcopyrite in banded siltite of the Mesoproterozoic Apple Creek Formation, along a northwest-trending belt about 55 km long (Idaho Geological Survey Staff Report 23-02). Jervois also drilled the Sunshine deposit, a historic cobalt resource a short distance from the ICO mill and concentrator (Jervois, ICO page).

What a restart would take: cost, price and the refinery gap

The administrators’ April 2025 report gives the clearest cost figures. Holding ICO in care and maintenance cost about US$12 million a year. Finishing the surface processing plant would take about US$25 million more, and “a formal restart plan has not been developed” (KPMG administrators’ report). The US$25 million covers finishing the surface plant, which was left unfinished in 2023; it is not a full restart budget and does not include a refinery.

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Cobalt price, annual averages

US dollars per pound, London Metal Exchange cash and US spot cathode

The price side is the harder part. The administrators wrote that ICO was “economically unviable at current cobalt pricing levels” when construction stopped. USGS shows why: the London Metal Exchange cash price averaged US$28.83 a pound in 2022 and about US$11.84 in 2024 (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, February 2026). The Democratic Republic of the Congo then banned cobalt exports in February 2025 and replaced the ban with quotas of up to 96,600 tonnes a year for 2026 and 2027 (USGS). On 27 October 2026 Trading Economics showed cobalt at US$34,620 a tonne, about US$15.70 a pound, which was 12.7 percent lower than a month earlier and 28.7 percent lower than a year earlier. Prices move daily, so check a live quote before using any number from this page.

Refining is the second gap. The Jervois USA president told KIFI that the United States has no cobalt refinery, and USGS notes that the concentrate from Michigan’s Eagle mine is exported for processing (USGS; KIFI). The Department of Energy funding would cover 40 percent of an estimated US$250 million refinery. InvestMETS reports a design of up to 6,000 tonnes a year of battery-grade cobalt sulphate, and Jervois said the likely sites are in Pennsylvania or Louisiana (KIFI; InvestMETS). Both Jervois and the Department of Energy official link any mine restart to having refining capacity at home, so concentrate does not have to be exported.

How ore becomes cobalt: five steps from Idaho to a battery

The Idaho story is mostly about the gap between steps two and three.

Infographic

From Idaho ore to cobalt in five steps

1. 1Mine the oreICO is an underground mine in the Blackbird district; the mine part was finished in early 2023.
2. 2Crush, mill and floatA concentrator makes a cobalt-copper concentrate; ICO’s plant was unfinished when work stopped; the administrators put the cost to finish the surface plant at about US$25 million.
3. 3RefineA refinery turns concentrate into cobalt sulphate or metal; the US has none today.
4. 4Make productsAlloy, chemical and battery-material makers buy the refined cobalt.
5. 5End useIn the US, 51 percent goes into superalloys, mainly for aircraft engines.

Calculator: what could ICO-type ore be worth?

The calculator uses the 2023 measured and indicated grades as defaults and takes prices as inputs. It shows the value of metal in the ore, which is not profit. It leaves out concentrate payable terms, treatment charges, mining and processing costs, royalties and tax, all of which take a large share of gross metal value. For reference, on 28 October 2026 Trading Economics quoted copper at US$6.63 a pound and gold at about US$4,048 a troy ounce (copper and gold pages). Replace the example prices with a live quote before reading anything into the result.

Beyond ICO: Iron Creek and the wider belt

ICO is one of several occurrences along the belt. When cobalt passed US$30 a pound at the end of 2021, the Idaho Geological Survey recorded a staking rush along the belt in 2021 and 2022 (Idaho Geological Survey Staff Report 23-02). At the south-east end of the belt, Electra Battery Materials, formerly First Cobalt, has explored Iron Creek. Its current estimate, from March 2023, is an indicated resource of 4.4 million tonnes at 0.19 percent cobalt and 0.73 percent copper (about 18.4 million pounds of cobalt) plus an inferred 1.2 million tonnes at 0.08 percent cobalt, prepared for a possible underground mine (Electra, 10 March 2023). On 20 November 2024 Electra said the US Forest Service had granted a ten-year exploration permit covering 91 drill pad locations across its 73.15 square kilometre Idaho land package (Mining Technology). Electra’s chief executive said then that its near-term focus was a cobalt refinery in Ontario, and Electra’s October 2025 update said it planned to restart Idaho drilling from the existing pads in spring 2026.

The belt also has a legacy that any buyer should understand. The Blackbird Mine covers 10,830 acres about 25 miles west of Salmon and, after nine decades of mining, contaminated soil, sediment, surface water and groundwater with heavy metals. EPA proposed the site for the National Priorities List in 1993 but has not finalised the listing; since 1995 the Blackbird Mine Site Group has treated water, stabilised waste rock and removed contaminated soil, and Noranda continues reclamation work (US EPA).

▶ The seven environmental impacts of mining, explained in clay, with the land, water and waste issues that old districts like Blackbird had to deal with. · 2:31

Cobalt mining in the United States: Idaho, Michigan and Minnesota

The United States produced an estimated 300 tonnes of mined cobalt in 2025, against 200 tonnes in 2024 and 650 tonnes in 2021. Imports for consumption were an estimated 14,000 tonnes in 2025, and net import reliance, the share of apparent use that came from abroad, was 79 percent (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, February 2026). USGS puts identified US cobalt resources at about 1 million tonnes, most of them in Minnesota, with other notable occurrences in Alaska, California, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

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US cobalt supply: imports up, mine output down

Thousand tonnes of contained cobalt

The two names to know outside Idaho are both nickel-copper projects that carry cobalt as a by-product. Talon Metals completed its purchase of the Eagle Mine and Humboldt Mill in Michigan from Lundin Mining on 9 January 2026, and also holds the Tamarack nickel-copper-cobalt project in Minnesota in a joint venture with Rio Tinto (Talon Metals, 9 January 2026). Jervois describes ICO as the only primary cobalt mine in the United States, meaning cobalt is its main product (Jervois, ICO page). That is also why it needs a good cobalt price to work, while the Michigan and Minnesota projects can lean on nickel and copper revenue.

For readers who follow the wider base-metal angle, Farmonaut has pages on nickel, cobalt, graphite and vanadium exploration, on where copper is found and on US copper mining companies.

Why this mine matters: defence, batteries and supply risk

Cobalt use in the United States is dominated by aircraft engines, not batteries. USGS estimates that 51 percent of US cobalt use in 2025 went into superalloys, mainly for gas turbine engines, 25 percent into chemicals, 15 percent into other metal uses and 9 percent into cemented carbides for cutting tools (USGS). Worldwide the picture is different: the Cobalt Institute reports total demand of 276,000 tonnes in 2025, up 13 percent, with electric vehicles the largest single segment at 39 percent of demand (Cobalt Institute, Cobalt Market Report 2025).

That split explains the policy interest. A mine in Idaho would supply a metal that defence contractors and battery makers both need, and the Defense Department’s US$15 million agreement paid for drilling and refinery studies because of that strategic value (Jervois Annual Report 2023). The local numbers are small but real: the workforce at ICO, including contractors, fell from about 280 to under 30 when work stopped (Jervois, ASX announcement). The concentrator was never fully commissioned, so ICO has no production history to quote (Jervois, ASX announcement).

▶ What mining adds to an economy: exports, jobs, revenue and energy-transition minerals. · 5:03

Where is cobalt found? Cobalt mines in the world

Cobalt is mostly mined as a by-product of copper and nickel, with a small share mined as a primary mineral or as a by-product of platinum group metals (Cobalt Institute). USGS describes the main resources as sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits in Congo (Kinshasa) and Zambia, nickel laterites in Australia, nearby island countries and Cuba, and magmatic nickel-copper sulphide deposits in Australia, Canada, Russia and the United States. Congo (Kinshasa) produced an estimated 230,000 of the world’s 310,000 tonnes in 2025, which USGS puts at about 73 percent, and Indonesia 44,000 tonnes, about 14 percent (USGS).

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Mined cobalt in selected countries outside Congo and Indonesia

Thousand tonnes of cobalt, 2025 estimate; Congo (Kinshasa) alone made 230 and Indonesia 44

The Cobalt Institute names the largest mining groups in Congo as CMOC, Glencore and Eurasian Resources Group. Together they produced more than 57 percent of global cobalt in 2025.

Outside Congo and Indonesia, mined supply was only about 38,000 tonnes in 2025 (Cobalt Institute, which counts a world total of 270,000 tonnes against the USGS 310,000). The chart shows selected producers in that group, including the United States at 300 tonnes.

Where to find cobalt from responsible sources

Buyers who need traceable cobalt usually start with the refiner, not the mine. The Responsible Minerals Initiative keeps two public lists: refiners that have been found conformant with its cobalt standard, and refiners still going through the assessment (Responsible Minerals Initiative, cobalt refiners list). A refiner on the conformant list has been found to meet the programme’s standard for checking where its feed comes from. Ask the refiner for the date of its latest assessment.

Source country also matters. Congo replaced its 2025 export ban with quotas of up to 96,600 tonnes a year for 2026 and 2027, while Indonesia’s output is growing quickly (USGS; Cobalt Institute). A US mine such as ICO would offer a different supply route, but only once it is producing and its concentrate has a refinery to go to.

How satellite imagery helps when screening cobalt ground

Satellites cannot see cobalt itself. They map the rock around it: iron-oxide staining, clay and mica alteration, faults and fractures. For a buyer of claims in a belt like this one, a satellite screen of the claim block helps rank which parts deserve a geologist’s visit first, before money goes into access roads or drill pads. Farmonaut’s satellite-based mineral detection service takes a KML, KMZ or polygon boundary and returns a report in 5 to 20 business days; cobalt is on the list of minerals it covers. Results are exploration targets, not a resource estimate, and they do not replace sampling or drilling. You can request a quote or contact the team with your boundary.

▶ Remote sensing for mining in three minutes: the instrument families and why agreement between them matters. · 2:01

Frequently asked questions

Is the Idaho cobalt mine producing cobalt?

No. Final construction was suspended in March 2023, and the administrators described the mine as non-operational in April 2025. In August 2026 a Department of Energy official said it is not operating because it is not economic at the moment.

Who owns the Idaho cobalt mine?

NewCo, formally New JRV Topco Holdings LLC, has owned Idaho Cobalt Operations since the deed of company arrangement took effect on 9 May 2025. Millstreet Capital Management funds were set to hold the large majority of its voting units under the restructuring plan. The operating subsidiary is Jervois Mining USA Limited.

What is Jervois Idaho Cobalt Operations?

Jervois Idaho Cobalt Operations is the full project name used in company and government documents: an underground cobalt-copper-gold mine and a partly built mill near Salmon, Idaho. Jervois Global bought it in 2019. The listed parent no longer exists, but the Jervois name is still used by the NewCo group and in the 2026 Department of Energy award.

Where is the Idaho cobalt mine located?

ICO is in Lemhi County, in the Blackbird district of the Idaho Cobalt Belt, within the Salmon-Challis National Forest. The historic Blackbird Mine is about 25 miles west of the town of Salmon.

Is Idaho the only place in the United States with a cobalt mine?

No. Jervois describes ICO as the only primary cobalt mine in the United States, but it is idle. USGS names the Eagle Mine in Michigan, a nickel-copper mine, as the source of US cobalt-bearing concentrate in 2025, and says most identified US cobalt resources are in Minnesota.

How much cobalt is in the Idaho deposit?

The April 2023 estimate for the RAM deposit is 3.78 million tonnes of measured and indicated resource at 0.52 percent cobalt, or about 43.6 million pounds, plus 1.59 million tonnes of inferred resource at 0.51 percent. A resource is not a reserve and has not been shown to be economic.

Where can you find cobalt in the world?

Mostly in Congo (Kinshasa), which produced about 73 percent of mined cobalt in 2025, followed by Indonesia at about 14 percent. Smaller amounts come from Russia, Madagascar, Australia, Canada and Papua New Guinea (USGS).

What are the biggest cobalt mines in the world?

CMOC’s Kisanfu mine in Congo is the largest single source, with an estimated 80,000 tonnes or more of cobalt in hydroxide in 2025. CMOC, Glencore and Eurasian Resources Group together supplied over 57 percent of global cobalt (Cobalt Institute).

Where has cobalt been mined in Idaho?

Cobalt and copper were mined at the Blackbird Mine from 1893 to 1982. The RAM deposit, now part of ICO, was discovered in 1997 (EPA; Idaho Geological Survey).

Why does a refinery matter for the Idaho mine?

A mine makes concentrate; a refinery turns it into cobalt sulphate or metal that battery and alloy makers buy. The United States has no cobalt refinery today, so concentrate would have to be exported. The Department of Energy’s US$100 million selection is meant to change that.

How can I find cobalt from responsible sources?

Check whether the refiner appears on the Responsible Minerals Initiative conformant list for cobalt, then ask for the audit date and the origin of the feed. Mine-level traceability from Idaho would only become relevant once the mine produces.

This page is for information only. It is not investment advice.