Mineral review – Cobalt

Kawu Musa Idris-Idah, 20th August 2026

This series provides brief insights into minerals underpinning the solar industry.

Cobalt plays an important role in lithium-ion battery manufacturing. Two major cathode chemistries of lithium-ion batteries, NMC (Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt) and NCA (Nickel-Cobalt-Aluminium), use cobalt because it stabilizes cathodes during charging and discharging, contributing to battery durability and cycle life. 

Most cobalt supply is a byproduct of mining copper or nickel. Copper or nickel ore containing cobalt-bearing minerals (cobaltite, heterogenite, etc.) is crushed and processed, forming a concentrate. Sulfuric acid leaching is a popular method for extracting cobalt from copper-cobalt ores. The concentrate undergoes sulfuric acid leaching at temperatures that can exceed 90°C. Cobalt and other metals dissolve into the resulting solution, and the solution is purified via processes such as solvent extraction and precipitation, producing cobalt hydroxide. Cobalt hydroxide is fed into a reactor, where it reacts with sulfuric acid to form cobalt sulphate in solution. The solution is purified to produce pure cobalt sulphate, which is later mixed with nickel and manganese/aluminium sulphates to eventually produce precursors for NMC/NCA cathodes. 

Cobalt intensity in battery manufacturing has reduced in recent years, as lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries continue to gain market share.

The table below provides the highest-ranking cobalt-producing countries as per the USGS. The DRC, an African country, produces five times the volume produced by the second-ranked country (Indonesia). The DRC also has about 50% of the world’s cobalt reserves. Madagascar produced about 3,900 metric tons of cobalt in 2025. China refines the most cobalt globally.

Given cobalt’s importance to industrialization, African countries could target developing refining and downstream processing capacity, aiding the continent’s industrialization goals. 

Production (2025)

Country	Production (thousand metric tons)
Congo	230
Indonesia	44
Other countries*	9.1
Russia	7.7
Madagascar	3.9
Philippines	3.7
Canada	3.5

Reserves

Country	Reserves (million metric tons)
Congo	6
Australia	1.7
Russia	0.8
Other countries*	0.8
Indonesia	0.8

*Other countries represents sum total of other minor producers / resource owners. It is a metric that enables comparing a country’s levels to minor producers / resource owners.