Supply
Cobalt is a minor metal that due to its normally low concentration in the earth's crust usually means that it is produced as a byproduct of other metals.
More specifically the metal is primarily obtained (85%) as a by-product of the refining of other metals, mainly copper and nickel, leaving the supply of cobalt and the viability of the industry correlated to nickel and copper demand. As a result this makes cobalt susceptible to swings in copper and nickel demand, increasing price volatility. To prevent this turbulence in price and increase transparency of cobalt in the market, the London Metals Exchange listed and began trading cobalt in February 2010.
Cobalt has experienced a supply increase from 42,900 tonnes in 2003 to 59,550 tonnes in 2009. Approximately 39,000 tonnes per year, or 65%, of cobalt is mined in Africa, mainly from ore bodies located in the Copper Belt Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia - areas that are well known for their growing political risk and socio-economic dissension that are fuelled by the sale of conflict minerals. Disruptions in these "conflict areas" that mine cobalt are creating a growing concern over supply chain. Recent regulation requires the disclosure of all minerals mined in the DRC and other regions of conflict to discourage the use of conflict minerals fuelling acts of human injustice.
Cobalt is considered a strategic metal by various political bodies including the European Union, the United States and China, and is a required metal for stockpile. A strategic metal is defined as a commodity that is integral to the national defense, aerospace or energy industry, but is threatened by supply disruptions due to limited domestic production.
Global Cobalt is in a unique position as being a front-runner in supplying non-African and non-conflict cobalt to the ever-growing demand for the strategic metal. Global Cobalt is also the only company with multinational primary cobalt assets meaning that there is no reliance on the prices and/or demand for other minerals such as copper and nickel.
