What a rollercoaster last week was for ASX shares. Monday and Tuesday saw the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) fall, while Wednesday and Thursday saw it in the green. On Friday, it was in the red again. But investors in the Cobalt Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX: COB) share price had nothing to worry about.
Cobalt Blue shares rocketed an impressive 30.9% over the course of last week, rising from 55 cents per share to 72 cents. That puts Cobalt Blue up around 44% in 2022 so far.
So what has happened to give investors such a surge of optimism over the last week?
Cobalt Blue share price charges up
Well, it has to be said that it's not entirely clear. Cobalt Blue's Broken Hill Cobalt Project was granted 'major project status' recently.
This development means Cobalt Blue will receive government support for the project, which aims to produce "high quality, battery-ready cobalt sulphate". This sparked a surge of optimism for the Cobalt Blue share price at the time as it surged by more than 20% at one point. But that was made public on 2 March, more than a week ago.
But we could also be seeing a general rise in investor sentiment towards Cobalt Blue and other ASX cobalt shares. As my Fool colleague Mitchell reported on Friday, the price of raw cobalt itself has been surging of late.
The metal is a key ingredient inside many lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, itself a huge growth industry. As such, investors and suppliers alike have been keen to secure a piece of the market.
Cobalt Blue is one of the biggest cobalt plays on the ASX. But it is not the only cobalt company to have enjoyed some recent gains. Jervois Global Ltd (ASX: JRV) is another ASX cobalt share. Although Jervois didn't have quite the week that Cobalt Blue had, its shares are still up an impressive 44% or so over the past six months.
At the current Cobalt Blue share price, this ASX resources share has a market capitalisation of $213.6 million.
