It plans to use the settlement plus excess liquidity to repurchase 9.9% of its common shares.

Cobalt 27 said the theft of its 76t from the Vollers Holland BV Rotterdam warehousing facility represented about 2.6% of the company's total physical cobalt holdings at the time of 2,905.7t.

About 112t of cobalt was stolen from the Vollers facility in July, according to media reports.

"All of Cobalt 27's physical cobalt, which is stored in LME certified and bonded warehouses in the US and Europe, remains fully insured," the company said yesterday.

It said the settlement was based on the highest price of premium grade cobalt during the month of the loss, being US$40.85 per pound on July 4.

"Using the insurance proceeds to buy back shares at their current trading price would be highly accretive to our net asset value per share and represents the most attractive use of proceeds of any excess liquidity available to the company," chairman and CEO Anthony Milewski said.

 

As well as its physical cobalt holdings, the company has a portfolio of royalties and is acquiring a cobalt-nickel stream on the Ramu mine in Papua New Guinea and a cobalt stream on Vale's Voisey's Bay from 2021. 

Its shares have ranged between C$4.76-$14 over the past year closed down 5c to $5.89 yesterday to capitalise it close to $500 million.