| The Institute Of Materials, Minerals & Mining - May 1, 2018 The pressure on resources, such as lithium and cobalt, used in lithium-ion batteries is rising. Kathryn Allen examines how this will impact... also the issue of sourcing ethically produced cobalt. A scheme attempting to trace cobaltfrom artisanal mines in the Democratic Republic of Cobalt, on the other hand, is described in the paper as ‘already under pressure’ and ‘highly dependent on reserves located in unstable regions as well as on the co-production of other elements’. Primary production accounts for only 15% of cobalt obtained, as it is usually a co-product of nickel and copper mining. The price and supply is therefore affected by demand and production of these metals…Despite this, the limited identified reserves – in terms of size and geographical location – of cobalt pose a risk to future supply. These reserves are concentrated in the Central African Copperbelt, between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia – a politically unstable area…According to Christoph Vaalma, PhD student at HIU, ‘Cobalt supply from the Democratic Republic of Congo has faced several interruptions over the last few decades, including a cobalt crisis in 1978 with prices temporarily increasing by 550% from US$18,000 to US$99,000 per tonne. Cobalt is additionally facing a risk from the concentration of refinery capacity, which is mostly located in China.’…The rising demand for cobalt as a battery material is evident in Glencore Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg’s warning in early 2018 that Western car manufacturers – currently developing electric vehicles – haven’t realised the severity of the issue of limited cobalt supply…Released in March 2018, Glencore’s Annual Report 2017 revealed the company plans to increase cobalt production 133% over the next three years, expecting an additional 314kt will be required to enable 30 million electric vehicle sales by 2030. Glencore recently signed a deal to supply China with the metal for three years, highlighting concerns over future availability and attempts to secure long-term deals with miners…Vaalma told Materials World, ‘Regarding the period until 2050, the battery market is expected to grow exponentially, predominantly due to the expected success of electric vehicles. In this context, it needs to be kept in mind that different battery materials are available – some require cobalt, some do not. In the automotive sector, however, only cobalt-containing materials are, so far, able to meet the vehicle-specific battery requirements in terms of weight, volume, power, and lifetime. Because of that, the already tensed cobalt market will be increasingly stressed and the share of the demand by the battery industry will continuously increase.’ |