CobaltThe New Darling of Energy
Thus far, the lack of attention to this commodity hasn’t been an issue. After all, investors are making plenty on lithium alone.
But the time has come, Lowry says, to talk of other things, namely cobalt.
Cobalt is just as essential to today’s battery designs as lithium, and could still be a big part of tomorrow’s batteries, too.
Last week, lithium-ion pioneer John Goodenough came out with a new battery design that negates the need for lithium altogether, replacing it with sodium instead.
Goodenough is credited with creating the cobalt-oxide cathodes that make up the most powerful batteries we have today, including those used in electric vehicles like Tesla’s. From what we know of the new design, nothing has replaced the cobalt.
Right now, production comes mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which, as Keith Kohl has explained before, is riddled with political discord that threatens the reliability of supply.
Which is rough, since the area produced around 66,000 tons of cobalt last year. The next largest haul came from China, with just 7,700 tons.
Any increase in China’s production will, of course, be going in large part to domestic use, much like its lithium.
Which means more global supply will have to come from the next runners up: Canada and Russia.
Canada, which produced around 7,300 tons last year, produces most of its cobalt as a byproduct of mining for copper and nickel. That may have to change now that cobalt demand is on the rise.
Russia has already seen the writing on the wall, and minister of industry and trade Denis Manturov has stated that the country will be upping production in the next few years from its 2016 total of just 6,200 tons.
Australia, though its cobalt production dropped from 6,000 to 5,100 tons last year, still has a shot, too.
According to the USGS, the country has the world’s second largest reserves at around 1 million tons, though that's less than a third of what can be found in the DRC, and it's held mostly in nickel and copper mines.
Mining Goblin Metal
Today, cobalt is little known and still mostly a byproduct.
Tomorrow, it will have to be something more. Lithium producers are already under the gun; cobalt producers will be even more so.
And now we’ve started talking about it, we’re already one step ahead of the investment hype.
Until next time,
Megan Dailey
Energy and Capital