Titan Resources International Corp., (TNRI.PK)

Company Website
http://www.titan-resource.com/

Summary
TITAN Resources International Corp., is a publicly traded resource exploration company dedicated to the acquisition, exploration and development of small to medium size precious metals properties of significant merit, in both Canada and South America.

TITAN recently entered into an option agreement to purchase up to 50% participating interest in Silver Centre Resources Inc (SCR), a private resource exploration company. SCR owns 13 contiguous patented mining claims located in the South Lorrain Township, Larder Lake mining division of the Temiskaming area in northern Ontario, Canada which within them contain the former past producing "Keeley" and "Frontier" silver/cobalt mines. The total recorded historical production from the Keeley and Frontier Mines, combined, was just over 19.2 million ounces of silver and 3.3 million pounds of Cobalt.

TITAN is committed to generating new exploration targets within it's portfolio through an ongoing program of reconnaissance, mapping, sampling, surveying and drilling. TITAN continues to search for, stake, and acquire properties and projects for development. The offices of TITAN Resources International Corp., are located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Current Activity
"Obviously we were well aware of the rich cobalt values that have been mined out of the SCR property to date (over 3.3 million pounds) historically speaking, ...I mean, they don't call the town 'Cobalt' for nothing. We did not however expect that during the last year, that the price per pound for cobalt would almost double to where it's sitting today, around $30/pound," Jeff Hunter, CEO.

In the past few years, there have been two major shifts in cobalt demand patterns.

First, there was a significant shift in demand from the USA and Western Europe to Asia. The apparent demand in Asia has increased by about 80% since 2002, whereas demand in the USA and Western Europe has remained relatively steady. China and Asia are forecast to maintain their phenomenal demand for raw materials for the foreseeable future, and it is apparent that cobalt production is struggling to keep pace. (2007 "cobalt facts, CDI")

Second, the increase in demand resulted almost exclusively from increases in chemical applications, most notably rechargeable batteries and catalysts. It is estimated that in 2006 chemical applications accounted for more than 50% of the worldwide cobalt demand. The fastest growing segment of battery applications is for Hybrid Electrical Vehicles (HEVs), since they reduce air pollution and fuel consumption by at least 50% compared to conventional vehicles.

During the last three years, cobalt use in rechargeable batteries grew by 284%. Nickel metal hydride and lithium ion batteries all contain cobalt and are used in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), electric vehicles, laptop computers, cell phones, portable tools and electronic devices.

"In this new wireless and environmentally conscious age, cobalt demand is going to increase as supplies are tightening. We recently witnessed the small universe of publicly traded Uranium producers / developers (4 of them) give investors phenomenal returns. Once the market becomes more educated about cobalt and industry analysts start talking about it, watch a flood of capital flow towards the very few publicly traded primary cobalt companies available to investors," Richard Reinhardt, www.gsweekly.com

Then there is the supply side.

A large portion of cobalt raw materials and metal are produced in high-risk countries in Africa where political instabilities have had a major impact on business and investment; Cobalt prices fluctuate significantly, partly in response to labor and political unrest as experienced recently in New Caledonia and historically in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A leaked preliminary report seen by Reuters earlier this month said that the government-appointed commission recommended that 61 contracts and or licenses needed to be renegotiated or cancelled in the DRC. The contracts being reviewed included deals with Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold, BHP Billiton and Nokanor. The DRC holds a tenth of the world's copper reserves and a third of its cobalt.