Fortune Minerals : COBALT NEWS

Argus Media - September 8, 2021

Tightening feedstock supplies and robust demand from the electric vehicle (EV) battery sector have bolstered cobalt prices since the start ...

feedstock supplies and robust demand from the electric vehicle (EV) battery sector have bolstered cobalt prices since the start of this year

Tightening feedstock supplies and robust demand from the electric vehicle (EV) battery sector have bolstered cobalt prices since the start of this year, which market participants expect to support prices for the rest of this year…Glencore, the world's largest cobalt feedstock producer, produced 14,800t of cobalt in this year's first half, up by 3pc compared with a year earlier. Its output comprised 13,000t from Katanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 600t from the Sudbury and Raglan mines in Canada and 1,200t from the Minara site in Australia…Glencore suspended its production at the DRC's Mutanda mine at the end of 2019 following a significant fall in cobalt prices. It boosted Katanga's cobalt production by 40pc to 23,900t in 2020. The firm's cobalt production peaked at 46,300t in 2019 but fell to 27,400t in 2020 because of the Mutanda shutdown. Mutanda, which produced 25,100t of cobalt feedstock in 2019, is trying to resume full capacity at the start of 2022, with a 1,100t output in the first half of 2021. It has raised its 2021 cobalt production guidance to 35,000t +/-3,000t from 35,000t +/-2,000t previously…The world's second-largest cobalt feedstock producer CMOC produced 7,010t of cobalt during January-June, up by 7.15pc from a year earlier in line with steady output growth at its Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine (TFM) in the DRC…CMOC produced 15,436t of cobalt from TFM in 2020, down by 4.11pc from 16,098t in 2019. The firm in February raised its cobalt production guidance to 16,500-20,100t for this year, up from 14,000-17,000t in 2020, considering a scheduled rise in its TFM output by August that was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020…Tighter feedstocks supplies coupled with low efficiency because of civil unrest in South Africa's Durban port, the key transit hub for supplies from the DRC, have also boosted cobalt prices this year…Demand from the downstream lithium-ion battery industry is buoyant, while consumption from other sectors including super alloys and cemented carbide is recovering from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic…Demand from the EV industry is expected to remain robust in the coming few years with an accelerated transition to a low-emissions society…Demand from the computer, communication and consumer electronics sectors held firm during January-July, although these sectors showed signs of weakening in the second quarter.