Cobalt

  • China’s Monthly Nickel, Cobalt, and Lithium Production Update

    BY Lars Jensen
    In October, China produced 178,800 tonnes of nickel sulfate, equivalent to 39,300 tonnes of nickel content, reflecting a 2.71% month-on-month (MoM) decline, according to a survey by Mysteel. The production was derived from various sources, including mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), high-grade nickel matte, and secondary nickel. The nickel sulfate production is expected to decline further...
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  • China’s Cobalt Sulfate Production Declines Amid Sluggish Demand and High Costs

    BY Lars Jensen
    In October, China’s cobalt sulfate production totaled 19,527 tonnes, representing a decline of 1.04% month-on-month (MoM) and 10.13% year-on-year (YoY). The cumulative production from January to October reached 228,121 tonnes, with a decrease of 7.28% YoY. The market faced sluggish downstream demand, and end-side users showed limited interest in building up stocks. Additionally, cobalt sulfate...
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  • China’s Cobalt Powder Production Sees Modest Growth in October

    BY Lars Jensen
    China’s cobalt powder production increased by 3.97% month-on-month in October, reaching 773.5 tonnes, while also rising 7.28% compared to the same period last year. From January to October, total production reached 7,978 tonnes, marking a year-on-year growth of 12.29%. In October, overall demand for cobalt powder was moderate, and the market saw the presence of...
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  • Rio Tinto Calls for Faster Permitting to Meet Copper Demand for Energy Transition

    BY Sophia Schmitz
    Rio Tinto has urged the incoming U.S. administration, under president-elect Donald Trump, to prioritize speeding up the permitting process for critical mining projects. Speaking at the Financial Times commodity summit in Singapore, Rio Tinto’s Chief Commercial Officer Bold Baatar emphasized the importance of ensuring sufficient copper supply for the energy transition, specifically highlighting the stalled...
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  • Glencore Reports Decline in Copper, Zinc, and Cobalt Production for 2024

    BY Sophia Schmitz
    Swiss resource giant Glencore reported a 4% year-on-year decline in copper production to 705,200 tons for the period from January to September 2024. The decrease was primarily attributed to the sale of its Cobar mine in Australia in June. Zinc production also fell by 4%, reaching 643,600 tons, mainly due to reduced output at the...
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  • Jinchuan Group Reports Decline in Copper and Cobalt Production for First Nine Months of 2024

    BY John Davis
    Jinchuan Group announced that its mining business produced 47,183 tonnes of copper during the first nine months of 2024, marking a year-on-year decrease of approximately 2%. The decline was attributed to an unstable power supply from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national power grid during this period. Copper sales also dropped to 41,368 tonnes, representing...
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  • Cobalt Mining in the DRC: Challenges and Achievements at Etoile Mine

    BY Sophia Schmitz
    A conveyor belt carries raw cobalt for processing at the Etoile mine, operated by Chemaf Sarl, located in Katanga province near Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Along a 250-mile highway cutting through central Africa, thousands of flatbed trucks haul sheets of copper and sacks of cobalt hydroxide—materials essential for electric cars and other...
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  • Fortune Minerals Retains Worley for Updated Feasibility Study of NICO Project

    BY Sophia Schmitz
    Fortune Minerals has hired Worley Canada Services to lead additional engineering work and prepare an updated feasibility study for the NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Project in Canada. The project includes a mine and concentrator in the Northwest Territories and a hydrometallurgical facility in Alberta. The updated study will assess current project costs, commodity prices, and recent optimizations,...
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  • Pipeline Damage Halts Nickel, Cobalt Output at Madagascar’s Ambatovy

    BY Sophia Schmitz
    Nickel and cobalt production at Madagascar’s Ambatovy mine has been interrupted after a pipeline transporting ore from the mine in the east of the country to its refinery was damaged, according to a statement from Sumitomo Corp, a major shareholder. The incident, which occurred on September 25, is under investigation, though no injuries have been...
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  • Nickel Industries Acquires 51% Stake in Indonesia’s Siduarsi Project for $3.4 Million

    BY Lars Jensen
    Nickel Industries, an Australian mining company, has completed the acquisition of a 51% stake in the Siduarsi Project in Indonesia from PT Iriana Mutiara. The Siduarsi Project is a 6th generation Contract of Work (CoW) and is one of only four active nickel CoWs in Indonesia. The deal was valued at AUD 5 million (USD...
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  • Weekly Metals News Digest – September 16-20

    BY Sophia Schmitz
    Artificial Intelligence to Exacerbate Copper Shortages Developments in the artificial intelligence sector are expected to aggravate the looming shortage of copper, a metal crucial for the global transition to cleaner energy sources, according to Vandita Pant, CFO of BHP Group. The growth of data centers and AI technologies, which demand higher energy consumption for computing,...
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  • US Strategic Metals Joins Forces with Chilean Cobalt Corp. and Glencore on Cobalt Supply Chain

    BY Lars Jensen
    US Strategic Metals (USSM) has entered a partnership with Chilean Cobalt Corp. (C3) and Glencore AG, a division of Glencore, to facilitate the processing of cobalt and cobalt intermediates from C3’s La Cobaltera project in Chile. The collaboration aims to establish a U.S.-centric cobalt supply chain, linking the La Cobaltera project with USSM’s critical metals...
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  • Metal-Refining Startup Nth Cycle Debuts Commercial Refinery Amid Critical Minerals Demand

    BY Lars Jensen
    Nth Cycle, a U.S.-based metal-refining startup, has opened its first commercial nickel-cobalt refinery in Ohio, with plans to partner with recyclers and eventually miners to produce metals with less waste. The facility, which received a $7.2 million tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act, produces mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), a key precursor material used by...
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  • Canada Nickel Eyes $500M Loan for World’s Largest Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide Project

    BY Lars Jensen
    Canada Nickel has announced that Export Development Canada (EDC) may provide a $500 million loan for its Crawford project in northern Ontario, which is poised to become the world’s largest nickel-cobalt sulphide development. This potential funding, combined with $600 million in tax credits from the Canadian government, would support the construction of the C$3.5 billion...
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  • CMOC Reports Record First-Half Profit with Significant Gains in Copper and Cobalt Production

    BY Lars Jensen
    CMOC, a global leader in rare metals mining and marketing, announced remarkable financial results for the first half of 2024, achieving a net profit attributable to the parent company of $762 million USD. This represents an extraordinary increase of 670.43% compared to the same period last year, driven by robust production growth, stringent cost management,...
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  • Weekly Metals News Digest – August 19-23

    BY Lars Jensen
    Ganfeng Lithium Expands into Turkey Strategic Partnership with Yigit Aku Chinese lithium producer Ganfeng Lithium has embarked on a significant expansion into Turkey by forming a long-term strategic partnership with Turkish battery manufacturer Yigit Aku. This collaboration marks a crucial step in Ganfeng Lithium’s global growth strategy, particularly in the rapidly expanding battery market. Joint...
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  • Cobalt Market Faces Oversupply Challenges as Metal Reappears in LME Warehouses

    BY Lars Jensen
    The cobalt market is grappling with a significant oversupply, highlighted by the recent delivery of 23 metric tons of cobalt to London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses. This marks the first warranting of the battery metal on the LME since February 2022. Additionally, over 680 tons of cobalt were reported as off-warrant inventory at the end...
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  • US Strategic Metals Secures Interest for $400 Million Loan from EXIM Bank for Madison Cobalt Project

    BY Lars Jensen
    US Strategic Metals (USSM), previously known as Missouri Cobalt, has announced that it received a non-binding Letter of Interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) for a potential $400 million debt financing package. This funding is aimed at supporting the development of their flagship Madison cobalt mining project in Missouri. The...
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  • Glencore Halts Cobalt Stockpiling Amid Ongoing Market Surplus

    BY Sophia Schmitz
    Glencore, the Swiss-based commodities giant, has announced that it has stopped accumulating cobalt reserves, according to CEO Gary Nagle. Despite this decision, the cobalt market is anticipated to remain in surplus for the next 18 to 20 months due to increased production, particularly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Last August, Glencore revealed it...
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  • Russian government greenlights Arctic CAM facility

    BY Sophia Schmitz
    The Russian government approved a cathode active materials (CAM) facility in the Arctic. This facility will produce cathode materials, a mixture of lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt, essential for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles. The decision to base production at the Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company, a subsidiary of the one of the world’s...
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  • Glencore Reports Decline in Copper, Cobalt, Zinc, Nickel, and Coal Production in First Half of 2024

    BY Lars Jensen
    Swiss-based mining group Glencore announced a decrease in its copper production by 5% to 462,600 tons in the first half of 2024. On a like-for-like basis, this figure was 2% lower after adjusting for the sale of 15,000 tons of Cobar volumes in June 2023. The company’s own-sourced cobalt output dropped by 27% to 15,900...
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  • Magna Terra Minerals Acquires Humber Copper-Cobalt Project in Newfoundland

    BY Lars Jensen
    Magna Terra Mineral has announced the acquisition of the Humber Copper-Cobalt Project, located in western Newfoundland, via staking. The Humber Project focuses on critical minerals and metals, comprising 1,325 claims across 10 mineral licenses, covering an area of 33,125 hectares. The project area is characterized by rocks from the sedimentary Humber Arm Allochthon, which contain...
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  • Lifezone Metals Produces First Nickel, Copper, and Cobalt Samples from Kabanga Nickel Project

    BY Lars Jensen
    Lifezone Metals has announced a significant milestone in the development of the Kabanga Nickel Project in north-west Tanzania. The company successfully produced nickel, copper, and cobalt cathode samples via semi-continuous pilot scale refinery test work at its Simulus Laboratory in Perth, Australia. These metals were derived from flotation concentrate processed from borehole core samples taken...
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  • Deep Sea Mining: Essential for Energy Transition or a Risky Endeavor?

    BY Lars Jensen
    Deep sea mining, particularly in the Clarion-Clipperton zone, has become a contentious issue. This area, located 4000 to 5000 meters below sea level between Hawaii and Mexico, is rich in polymetallic nodules containing manganese, iron, copper, and cobalt—key materials for renewable energy technologies. However, this zone is also a unique and largely unexplored ecosystem with...
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