Battery Metals Report 2018 - Everything you need to know about the Battery Metals Lithium and Cobalt! - Swiss Resource Capital
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Battery Metals Report 2018
Everything you need to know about the Battery Metals Lithium and Cobalt!
www.resource-capital.ch | info@resource-capital.ch
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Table of Contents Imprint
Commodity-TV
The whole world of commodities
in one App!
ad
Downlo App
ique
our un e! Disclaimer 02
for fre
Table of Contents | Imprint 07
Preface 09
The electro revolution is gaining momentum – lithium and
cobalt are playing a key role! 10
Interview with Tobias Tretter, Manager of
Structured Solutions Next Generation Resources Fund 23
Editor
Company profiles Swiss Resource Capital AG
Poststr. 1
Advantage Lithium 28 9100 Herisau, Schweiz
Tel : +41 71 354 8501
eCobalt Solutions 33 Fax : +41 71 560 4271
info@resource-capital.ch
First Cobalt 38 www.resource-capital.ch
Editorial staff
Jochen Staiger
Lithium Chile 47 Tim Rödel
Lithium Energi 51 Layout/Design
Frauke Deutsch
Watch Management & Expert Interviews, Site-Visit-Videos, M2Cobalt 56
News Shows and receive top and up to date All rights reserved. Reprinting material
Millennial Lithium 61 by copying in electronic form is not
Mining Information on your mobile device worldwide! permitted.
Nemaska Lithium 66
Editorial Deadline 03/05/2018
Amazing features: Pure Energy Minerals 71 Deadline Charts 04/07/2018
• Company Facts RockTech Lithium 76 Cover: Zapp2Photo/shutterstock.com
• Global Mining News Page 12: ©ser_igor/stock.adobe.com
Sierra Metals 81 Back: canstockphoto, fotolia, shutterstock,
• Push Notofications fotolia
• Commodity-TV, Rohstoff-TV and Dukascopy-TV Standard Lithium 86
powered by: All images and graphics are, unless otherwise
• Live Charts Wealth Minerals 91 stated, by the companies.
• JRB-Rohstoffblog
6 7
Swiss Resource Capital AG | Poststrasse 1 | 9100 Herisau | Schweiz | www.resource-capital.ch www.resource-capital.ch | info@resource-capital.ch
Preface
Dear reader,
It is with great pleasure that we are able engines will switch to electric cars. Daim-
-
port, which replaces our successful Lith- clean local public transport with a range Jochen Staiger is founder and CEO of
ium Special Report. Swiss Resource of over 300 km. Volkswagen wants to in- Swiss Resource Capital AG, located in
Capital AG has made it its business to vest around € 10 billion in the electro mo- Herisau, Switzerland. As chief-editor
topically and comprehensively inform - and founder of the first two resource
precious metals and commodity inves- ing 2025 sell more than one million IPTV-channels Commodity-TV and its
tors, interested parties and the individual electric cars per year. German counterpart Rohstoff-TV, he
who wants to become an investor in reports about companies, experts,
various commodities and mining compa- All this will be an enormous drive for the fund managers and various themes
nies. lithium and cobalt demand and in the in- around the international mining
On our website www.resource-capital.ch terview with Tobias Tretter you will read business and the correspondent
- how and in which directions the develop- metals.
tion as well as articles about the topic ments advance. Commodities are the
commodities. base of our economic activities. Without
commodities there are no technical inno-
Around two years ago, we started our se- vations and no products that can be
ries of special reports with lithium be- manufactured with new materials.
cause we consider this metal and cobalt
to be THE great future metals in the ener- With our special reports we would like to
gy sector and, in spite of the already give you the necessary insights and in-
R o h s t o f f - T V g et happened boom, see big chances and form you comprehensively.
and
Commodity-TV
potentials in the short term. The battery In addition, our two Commodity IPTV
n e s s it d e s e r v es! development is only at the beginning of a channels www.Commodity-TV.net &
aware
long road and the electric automobile are available to you
c o m p a n y t h e has to capture its place among consum- free of charge. For on the go we recom-
your ers and in the automobile history. Lithium
and Cobalt are the main components of
mend our new Commodity-TV App for
iPhone or Android which also provides
all available large-scale production bat- real-time charts, share prices and the lat-
teries and accumulators and therefore est videos.
the crucial link in the electro mobility
dream. The necessary charging infra- My team and I hope you will enjoy read- Tim Roedel is chief-editorial- and
structure is pushed along and expanded -communications-manager at SRC
in Germany which might accelerate the and hope that we can provide you with AG. He has been active in the
future trend. new information, impressions and ideas. commodity sector since 2007 and
Only the one who gets broadly informed held several editor- and chief-editor-
The annual Paris car show was dedicat- and takes matters relating to investments positions, e.g. at the publications
ed to the electro mobility in the past in his own hand will be in the winners and Rohstoff-Spiegel, Rohstoff-Woche,
years and the 2018 shows in Geneva as Rohstoffraketen, Wahrer Wohlstand
times. and First Mover. He owns an
issue of the short range should resolve enormous commodity expertise and a
itself with new accumulator technologies Yours Jochen Staiger wide-spread network within the whole
resource sector.
This will drastically increase the demand
for electric cars. According to experts
the demand increase will be based on
the formula “500+200” meaning 500 km
range plus 200 km reserve. Then, it is be-
lieved, the die-hard driver of combustion
9
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The electro revolution is gaining momentum –
lithium and cobalt are playing a key role!
Combustion and direct The era of electro would correspond to 10 to 25% of the among others, is that inside a lithium-ion
consumption was yesterday – mobility has begun! complete model range; accumulator the voltage is generated
electro mobility and General Motors: complete transition through the exchange of lithium ions.
decentralized energy storage to electro mobility – time frame still Due to the high energy density lithium-ion
are the future! Many countries are betting on the open; accumulators – in contrast to conven-
electro mobility card Honda: 2030 two-thirds of all models tional mercury or nickel-based batteries
Energy revolution, driving ban for diesel should have electric motors – from to- – deliver a constant performance
vehicles, nuclear phase-out, climate Several countries have jumped on the day’s perspective around 3.3 million. throughout the discharge period and are
change – these and many more terms of electro mobility bandwagon to achieve Hyundai: at least 10% with electric
our daily parlance are leading to a real their climate goals and took measures motors by 2025 – 800,000 vehicles; that is, the gradual capacity loss through-
turning point that was believed impossi- that further accelerated the abandon- Peugeot: 80% transition to electric out their service life due to many partial
ble 25 years ago: the leap from the era of ment of the combustion engine and the drive by 2023; discharges. The name “lithium-ion accu-
fossil fuels and the immediate consump- concurrent turn to the electric motor. Renault/Nissan: 1.5 million vehicles mulator” is only the generic term for a
Norway and the Netherlands decided a starting 2020; whole row of possible chemical additions
generation, the appropriate need for en- sales ban for vehicles with combustion Tesla: 1 million vehicles starting 2020; like the lithium-cobalt(dioxide) accumu-
- engine by 2025. India and France want to Toyota: 100% transition to electric lator, the lithium-manganese(dioxide) ac-
quence to the real revolution of mobility. achieve this by 2030, Germany and Chi- drive by 2050; cumulator, the lithium-iron-phosphate
After over 100 years of the combustion - Volvo: 100% transition to electric accumulator and less common the lithi-
engine the next stage of development is drive by 2019 (500,000 vehicles); um-titanate accumulator and the tin-sul-
launched, and it is called electro mobility. join by 2040 as well California. VW-Group: until 2025 20 to 25% of all fur-lithium-ion accumulator.
the vehicles produced should be oper-
The car manufacturers are plan- ated purely electric which would cor-
Musk makes it possible – or how ning to build many millions of respond to around 2 to 3 million vehi- Application in the area of rege-
a South African breaks the om- electric vehicles cles in total. nerative energies
nipotence of the oil multinatio-
nals These planned measures are putting the Altogether the leading car manufacturers The application of lithium and cobalt in
car manufacturers under pressure so are planning to produce at least 16 mil- lithium-ion batteries or accumulators in
Although China is already setting the tone that they have already reacted and out- lion electric vehicles annually starting in car manufacturing is only one of many
the electro revolution movement can be lined following company goals: possible uses. Corresponding energy
traced back to one name in particular, million electric vehicles annually and by storage systems will be increasingly
Elon Musk! The eccentric South African BMW: until 2025 15 to 25% of all the 2040 to 60 million vehicles annually. used for the storage of electricity derived
who was bullied as a child and beaten vehicles produced should be operated Daimler alone wants to invest more than from alternative energy sources. The
until unconscious made headlines initially purely electric which would corre- 80 billion Euros in the electro mobility in phenomenal expansion of the power
by the invention and the sale of the pay- spond to 300,000 to 600,000 vehicles the coming years. generation in wind farms or solar cells is
- in total; a giant advantage for the environment
ginning of the 21st century he had the vi- Chevrolet: after 30.000 sold electric but an enormous challenge for the power
sion of a pure electric locomotion and Lithium-ion accumulators are grids. The reason for this is the extreme
founded Tesla Motors in 2004. Thereby goals; considered the non-plus-ultra
he triggered a true chain reaction that China: The more than 170 Chinese car regenerative energy sources. When the
was responsible that by now many coun- manufacturers want to bring on the The core of every electric vehicle is be- wind blows or the sun shines large quan-
tries, companies and also private persons road at least 4.5 million electric vehi- sides the motor the energy storage hence tities of electric energy are “pumped”
are betting on the electric motor as future cles by 2020. a rechargeable accumulator. For long into the grid in a very short time creating
drive system as well as on appropriate Daimler: until 2025 15 to 25% of all term economical use, the electric vehi- enormous short lived overcapacities that
energy storage systems. Although Musk the vehicles produced should be oper- cles as well as the emerging decentral- are not used. According to calculations
did not invent the electric motor he will ated purely electric which would cor- 20 percent of the annual return of a wind
enter the history books as the one who respond to 300,000 to 600,000 vehi- farm is lost due to turbine shutdown
has broken the omnipotence of the oil cles in total; accumulators. In the meantime, it has during power grid overload.
multinationals and has started a new era Ford: until 2020 at least 13 models become evident that the lithium-ion ac-
of locomotion should have an electro motor, which cumulator is a clear favorite. One reason
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The biggest future field of companies (Pure Energy Minerals and
Composition and operating principle of a lithium-ion accumulator application for lithium-ion accu- -
mulators: Decentralized Energy ture partner Rare Earth Minerals) will
Storage most likely not start with production be-
fore 2020 and satisfy only part of Tesla’s
Composition of a lithium-ion accumulator Smart-Grid-Systems should prevent a demand. This indicates that Tesla has no
power grid overload but need a large reliable lithium supplier before 2020 and
Essentially a lithium-ion accumulator consists of the following components and materials: number of short and middle term energy
storage systems to store the surplus en- agreements for the time afterwards to
Positive electrode (cathode): ergy and feed it into the grid when there guarantee acceptable prices and to be-
Lithium-Cobalt(III)-oxide
CHARGE is a lack of wind and solar power. Lithi- come independent from middlemen like
ELECTROLYTE
Lithium-Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt-Oxide SEPARATOR um-ion accumulators could be the solu- Panasonic. In the case of cobalt tesla
ANODE (-)
Oxygen -
COPPER
Aluminum as conductor material CATHODE (+) plus energy and feeding it into the grid agreements with western mining compa-
ALUMINIUM on demand. Many producers already nies.
Negative electrode (anode):
Graphite or related carbon materials -
Silicon ly home with a photovoltaic system on … but the action is in Asia
Tin dioxide the roof. An example is the Tesla Power- by now!
Copper as conductor material wall, a solar battery for private homes
which is produced in the Tesla me- Although Tesla’s share at the global lithi-
Electrolyte (solution) CARBON ga-factory in Nevada, USA, since Octo- um and cobalt demand will be 8 to 10%
(GRAPHITE) ber 2015. The electric energy storage after completion of its Gigafactory 1 it is
Separator of polymer membrane LITHIUMION system consists of accumulators, charge already clear that Asia will need much
OXYGEN + METAL control and a liquid cooling system. It is more lithium. China alone accounts for
ELECTRON COBALT/NICKEL/MANGANESE possible for private customers to con- one third of the total demand. Experts
nect up to 9 batteries to reach a total ca- estimate this will not change soon be-
pacity of 57.6 kWh. With this, Tesla got cause China produces the most accu-
Operating principle of a lithium-ion accumulator the ball rolling and by doing so is making mulators and batteries by far. This stimu-
- lates the immense lithium and cobalt
In simple terms a lithium-ion accumulator neutral. The negative electrode is a so-cal- consumption of the country. According
generates an electromotive force by the led graphite intercalation compound whe- be the most important driver for the lith- to expectations China will have the stron-
movement of lithium-ions. During char- re lithium exists as cation. During dischar- ium market. gest yearly increase in lithium and cobalt
ging the positive lithium-ions migrate th- ge the intercalation compound emits demand of all important market partici-
rough the electrolyte and the separator pants during the coming 5 to 10 years
from the positive to the negative electro- electrode via the extern circuit. Simulta- North America is Tesla due to an expected multiplication of the
de. In the process the lithium-ions can neously many Li+ ions migrate from the Country … quantity of rechargeable batteries. Addi-
move freely between the two electrodes intercalation compound through the elec- tional important suppliers of lithium-ion
through the electrolyte within the accumu- trolyte also to the positive electrode. At Outside Asia, North America in particular batteries including South Korea and Ja-
lator. Unlike the lithium-ions the transition the positive electrode the lithium-ions do is dominating the lithium demand. Tesla pan will also guarantee a robust increase
metal and graphite structures of the elec- not receive the electrons of the external Motors is playing an important part of the lithium and cobalt demand. The
trodes are stationary and protected by a circuit but the present structures of the above all. The company is constructing highlights are by far the electronic giants
separator from a direct contact. The mo- transition metal compounds. Depending its so called “Gigafactory 1” in Nevada.
bility of the lithium-ions is necessary for on the type of accumulator these are co- Since 2016 lithium-ion cells, battery
the compensation of the external current balt, nickel, manganese or iron ions that packs, electric motors and drive units for und Great Wall.
during recharging and discharging so that change their charge. up to 500,000 electric vehicles per year
the electrodes stay largely electrically
agreements with only two lithium devel-
opers in Nevada and Mexico. These two
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um oxide and lithium nitride. In pure oxy-
gen lithium combusts at 1,800°C with a primarily derived by evaporating the
lithium bearing brines with addition of
Lithium reacts with water violently form- sodium carbonate in salt lakes. For the
ing lithium hydroxide. production of metallic lithium, the lithi-
um carbonate is dissolved in hydro-
chloric acid which produces carbon
Lithium production is either dioxide that escapes as gas and lithi-
tedious or expensive um chloride in solution. This solution is
reduced in the vacuum evaporator un-
The global lithium extraction is divided in
several branches producing the following
types of lithium compounds: 2. “Hard rock spodumene” deposits: in
this case the lithium compounds are
1. Lithium carbonate not derived from the salt of salt lakes
2. Lithium hydroxide but from spodumene, a lithium bear-
3. Lithium chloride ing aluminum silicate mineral. The
Source: Nemaska Lithium / own chart spodumene is mined using conven-
Additional gigafactories are The majority of the lithium-ion accumula- 5. Lithium metal tional techniques and processed to a
already built tors currently on the market are lithi- concentrate that is often transformed
um-cobalt (dioxide) accumulators where- Usually metallic lithium is produced in a to lithium carbonate with a purity of
Tesla is not the only lithium and cobalt fore this report is dealing primarily with multi-stage process starting from lithium more than 99.5 %. The necessary in-
consumer who plans a bigger production carbonate and is traded mostly with a tensive thermal and hydrometallurgi-
of lithium-ion accumulators. LG Chem purity of 99.5 %. The metallic lithium is cal processes are considered as very
has already begun production for Chevy used as a catalyst in the chemical and expensive. This type of deposit is al-
in Michigan in October 2015. Also, Fox- pharmaceutical industry as well as in the most exclusively mined in Australia
- Lithium production of aluminum lithium alloys. and the processing takes place pri-
able accumulators especially for cell marily in Chinese facilities.
The element lithium The industry distinguishes three basic
are building their own gigafactories for, types or qualities of lithium compounds:
among other things, so called power Lithium is a light metal belonging to the New processing methods and
alkali metal group. It is the least dense of 1. “Industrial grade”, with a purity of over lithium sources could revolutio-
units. Outside Asia and North America all known solid elements. It has half the - nize the production
only a few serious players can be found. weight of water, is silver-gray and rela- cant;
Noteworthy are Northvolt in Sweden and tively soft. Lithium is highly reactive and 2. “Technical grade”, with a purity around Recently more and more exploration and
Terra E Holding in Germany. Each of therefore found in nature only as a lithium 99.5 % for ceramics, lubricants and development companies are focusing on
these companies is striving for produc- compound. Contact with air tarnishes batteries; and new technologies that should allow ex-
tion capacities like Tesla. the surface due to the formation of lithi- tracting lithium from brine deposits not
99.5 % especially for high end cath- by lengthy natural evaporation but via
ode materials in batteries and accu- -
[HE] 2s1 3
Lithium-cobalt accumulators mulators. propriate facilities within days and even
Li
are the latest state of technolo- hours. In this context the methods of
gy and market-leading
There are two types of lithium Technologies are to be mentioned.
- deposits
terials lithium, cobalt, nickel and manga- Melting Point 180,54° C In addition, several lithium development
nese a lithium-ion accumulator consists Boiling Point 1330°C In general lithium is derived from two dif-
in addition primarily of aluminum, cop- LITHIUM ferent sources. source; the possibility to extract lithium
from old exploited oil reservoirs. The lith-
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ium is extracted from wastewater re- relatively small development companies ide is used in the production of accumu- tions, this number will increase to
maining in the reservoir. The viability of that in part are not producing before lators and batteries. Lithium carbonate 360,000 tons LCE by 2020. For the years
this process was proven several times. In 2020. As a result of this supply oligopoly, – crystalline, granulated or as powder – after there are concrete mine expansions
addition, this unusual lithium production lithium is currently not traded in the mar- for example is used for the electrolytic or new mines so that an enormous sup-
is economically feasible. Thereby brine ket and the actual trading prices are production of aluminum, in the ceramic
and pharmaceutical industry as well as
the focus of the lithium industry. mentioned by the supplier is that the in the alloy technique. For the produc-
available and produced lithium qualities tion of lithium-ion accumulators lithium The price is always crucial
- but relatively negligible for the
Larger lithium occurrences ket place. accumulator production!
are concentrated in a few grade powder). The extraction and pro-
regions cessing of (especially high grade) lithium In the end the price is only important for
Main application areas are is considered to be very expensive. the economic extraction of the existing
Lithium accounts for approximately alloys, lubricants and accumu- lithium deposits. In the past months the
0.006 % of the earth’s crust, therefore lators price has risen sharply. In mid-2015 the
The production of lithium-ion price for a ton lithium carbonate was
a bit more common than cobalt, tin and - accumulators requires large around US$ 6,000 and since then has
lead. According to estimates of the US satile properties make lithium a quantities of lithium reached peaks of over US$ 20,500. This
Geological Survey, there are 40 million sought-after material used in many ap- is surely just a snapshot. We can assume
tons of lithium mineable globally, 65 % plication areas. It is not a surprise that - that the price will settle, in the middle to
of that alone in the South American the main application area of lithium was eration of lithium-ion accumulators re- long term, between US$ 10,000 and
constantly changing in the past. Initially quires large quantities of lithium. Every 12,000 per ton lithium carbonate. Either
Currently the biggest lithium carbonate it was used primarily in medicine and in smartphone contains 5 to 7 grams LCE way, this is a lucrative business for the
production takes place in the Salar de the 1950’s the element became com- (Lithium Carbonate Equivalent). In a producer because the mining costs at
Atacama, a salt lake in the northern Chil- mercially successful as an alloy compo- notebook or tablet there are 20 to 40 current projects are US$ 3,000 to 6,500
ean province of Antofagasta. Approxi- nent. Due to its low weight and the pos- grams. Power tools like electric screw- per ton. The price development of lithi-
mately 40 % of the global lithium pro- itive properties regarding to tensile drivers or electric saws need 40 to 60 um hydroxide is a similar case. From a
duction originates in this region. In strength, hardness and elasticity lithium grams for their accumulators. A storage quantitative point lithium accounts for
became an inherent part of the aero- unit with a capacity of 10KWh for do- a significant part of a battery, but ac-
found in North America, Australia and space technique. During the past 20 mestic use contains around 23 kg LCE counts for only roughly 4-5 % of the
China. years the situation changed. In the and the accumulators for electric cars costs of a battery. Hence the lithium
course of the beginning of the electro contain 40 to 80 kg. A power storage unit price is insignificant for the produc-
with a capacity of 650MWh contains 1.5 tion of lithium ion batteries and could
Currently Lithium production the low standard electrode potential of be kept at an economic level for the
is focused primarily in four lithium the metal is almost perfectly suit- the high millions of notebooks, power lithium producer.
countries and by four compa- ed as the anode in batteries. Lithium tools, cars, e bikes etc. adds up to a de-
nies mand of several 100,000 tons of LCE per
high energy density and can generate a year. Development companies
Currently, around 80 % of the total lithi- very high voltage, but they are not re- work under high pressure at
um production worldwide originates in chargeable. This property is found in new projects, …
these three South American countries lithium-ion accumulators where lithium Lithium production will (and
plus Australia and production is split be- metal oxides, like lithium cobalt oxide, has to) increase sharply As the big companies Albemarle, SQM,
tween four companies. As a result, the are used as cathode material. For the FMC and Tianqi have plans to increase
whole lithium market is lacking transpar- production of accumulators and batter- In 2015 the global lithium production (for their production and at the same have no
ency. This is the reason the big battery ies purity grades above 99.5 % are interest in falling lithium prices, many de-
and accumulator producers like Panaso- needed. Industrial grade lithium hydrox- carbonate equivalent” a universal con- velopment companies work on the ad-
nic and the leading electric car manufac- ide is used, among other things, as raw version factor for all above mentioned vancement of new lithium projects and
turers, above all Tesla Motors, are look- material for lubricants as well as cool- lithium compounds) was approximately the delineation of concrete deposits and
ing for long-term supply contracts with ants and technical grade lithium hydrox- 175,000 tons LCE. According to projec- resources.
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Cobalt tated as cobalt hydroxide with chlorinat-
ed lime and separated. Through heating
The element cobalt the cobalt hydroxide is converted to
Co3O4 and afterwards reduced to cobalt
Cobalt is a steel-gray, very ductile heavy with coke or aluminum powder.
metal (ferromagnetic transition metal)
a typical metal it conducts heat and elec- The majority of the cobalt
tricity well. The electrical conductivity is deposits are on the ocean floor
26% that of copper. It is chemically simi-
lar to iron and nickel. Cobalt is protected Cobalt is a rare element and accounts for
from oxidation by a passivating oxide approximately 0.004 % of the earth’s
Source: Lithium Chile / own chart crust. Therefore, it is in thirtieth position
cobalt. according to the frequency of elements.
Cobalt is found in many minerals but oc-
… in part at new lithium hot lithium was at approximately 65,000 tons
[Ar] 3d74s2
curs mostly in small quantities. The ele-
spots LCE and reached 145,000 tons LCE by 27 ment is always associated with nickel
2017. The experts anticipate an increase and frequently with copper, silver, iron or
Co
Therefore, besides the typical lithium re- in the demand for LCE to 530.000 tons uranium.
gions South America and Australia, new per year by 2025. The globally known cobalt reserves are
regions in North America and especially The driving factor will primarily be the de- around 25 million tons whereby the larg-
Canada, Mexico and (due to the proxim- mand from the battery and accumulator Melting Point 1495° C est deposits are located in the Demo-
ity to the future top consumer Tesla Mo- sector in association with the automotive Boiling Point 2927°C cratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Cana-
tors) the USA and there the US state Ne- industry. Also, the sector of the energy COBALT da, Morocco, Cuba, Russia, Australia,
vada emerge as lithium hot spots. In the storage will see a strong boost in de- Uganda and the USA. According to as-
past years the Clayton Valley in Nevada mand. While 2015 only 40% of the lithi- sumption more than 100 million tons co-
has become the Lithium-Eldorado be- um demand came from the battery and
cause it hosts Albemarle’s Silver Peak accumulator sector (60% of the demand The production of cobalt is
Mine, the only operating brine lithium was from other sectors) its share will relatively simple and low cost
mine in North America. The Clayton Val- probably reach 75 % by 2025.
ley is one of the few areas worldwide To produce cobalt a known and relatively Until now cobalt is mined
where commercially mineable lithium simple method is used. Cobalt is pro- primarily in politically unstable
brines are found. Recently, Pure Energy duced primarily as a by-product from regions
Minerals copper and nickel ore. First, a part of the
with Tesla Motors. Another hot spot is in The majority of the annual cobalt supply
Argentina’s northwest where Orocobre is derived from mostly neglected and
dioxide to iron silicate. The resulting dangerous mines in the Democratic Re-
region and bordering Chile, some devel- matte contains, besides cobalt nickel public of Congo. Around 55% of the total
opment companies like Millennial Lithi- production volume comes from the cen-
um are active which could report already arsenide. Further roasting with sodium tral African civil war country, followed by
top-class results. carbonate and sodium nitrate removes China with 6.3%. Additional 5% comes
additional sulfur. Thereby part of the sul- from Russia, 3.7% from Zambia, 3.4%
- from Cuba and close to 3% from the
Conclusion: The demand is nates which are leached out with water. Philippines and Madagascar respective-
rising rapidly! The appropriate metal oxides stay be- ly. These are all countries that are con-
hind which are treated with sulfuric and sidered unstable or at least not neces-
The demand seems to be gigantic due in hydrochloric acid. Except copper nickel,
particular to the new boom sector electro cobalt and iron are dissolved. Subse- production is from Canada (close to 6%),
mobility! In 2000 the annual demand for quently cobalt can be selectively precipi- Australia (4.15%), South Africa (2.45%)
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