SME AG has now received a mining permit to explore, the “ENORA” field for the fol-lowing mineral resources: chromium, gold, cobalt, copper, nickel, silver, and vanadi-um. SME AG’s exploration focusses on cobalt, nickel, and chromium.
The field of exploration “ENORA” (an acronym for the northern edge of the Ore Moun-tains) extends across the counties of Middle Saxony, Zwickau as well as Chemnitz and includes an area of about 600 square kilometres.
Among others, the following metal tonnage have been geologically proved in the ore containing rocks. After successful exploration, SME AG will file an application for the permit to extract the mineral resources.

Cobalt was historically used to harden steel but due to its electrical conductivity, the metal has become an essential component of rechargeable batteries. This now leads to a competition for the resources in the primary deposits, mostly located in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to an estimate of Bloomberg New Energie Finance, the boom regarding electric cars will lead to a 47-fold increase in cobalt demand until 2030. The price for this metal has increased by 292% at the London Metal Exchange since 1 January 2017 to a price of 94,250 USD.