The photo is sourced from aussiedlerbote.de
Cobalt is a silvery-white metal with a pinkish tint that is used in lithium-ion battery cathodes. A battery consists of a cathode (a positively charged electrode) and an anode (a negatively charged electrode). Oxides of nonferrous metals (lithium, nickel, cobalt) are used as cathodes while the role of anodes is usually performed by natural or synthetic graphite produced from petroleum coke. Thus, lithium ions move from the anode to the cathode through the electrolyte (an electric current conductor) during charging and from the cathode to the anode during discharge.
In the period from 2016 through 2022, global cobalt production grew by 40%. The increase in absolute terms reached 47,800 t, of which 42,300 t were produced in the DRC. The existence of a substantial raw materials base in the DRC was instrumental: the country owns slightly less than 50% of the global cobalt reserves (4 mln t out of 8.533 mln t). An important role in the development of the cobalt mining industry is also played by other African countries, such as Madagascar, Morocco, South Africa and Zambia, which accounted for 4% (5,900 t out of 166,200 t) of global cobalt production and 5% (421,000 t out of 8,533,000 t) of the global reserves in 2022.
The production growth is directly linked to the wide use of batteries in telecommunications, electricity and transport. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the global fleet of battery electric vehicles increased 15-fold between 2016 and 2022 (from 1.2 mln units to 18 mln units). Meanwhile, cumulative global sales of smartphones were 75% higher in 2016–2022 than in 2009–2015 (9.56 bln units against 5.46 bln units according to Statista). Finally, the global capacity of grid batteries went up by 68% (by 16 gigawatts, according to BloombergNEF) in 2022 alone.
Further development of the battery market will contribute to growing cobalt production, including due to the lack of alternatives to expensive metals used as cathode materials. When it comes to anode materials, however, alternatives are already emerging: for example, Stora Enso has developed solid carbon based on lignin, an organic polymer contained in the surface layers of cell walls in wood. The new material entered pilot production in 2021.
