A battery and jet-engine metal, mined mostly as a by-product, with three quarters of it from one country.
Cobalt is mostly produced as a by-product of copper and nickel mining, which means its supply responds to the economics of those metals as much as to cobalt demand. Its largest use is in the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries, followed by superalloys for jet engines and power turbines, hard metals (cemented carbides) for cutting tools, magnets and chemicals. The battery share is changing: USGS notes that the cobalt content of lithium-ion batteries is being reduced, and cobalt-free chemistries that use iron and phosphorus hold a significant market share in China.
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Designations are indicative equivalents. Always confirm the exact standard, edition and temper or form on the purchase order and the mill certificate.
Congo (Kinshasa) mines about 73% of the world's cobalt and Indonesia about 14%, so two countries supply roughly 87%. Indonesia's output rose about 26% in 2025 (35,000 t to 44,000 t) as by-product cobalt from its nickel operations grew. Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026.
USGS puts world cobalt reserves at about 12 million tonnes, with identified land-based resources of about 25 million tonnes and an estimated 5 billion tonnes in seafloor nodules. Congo (Kinshasa) holds about half of the reserves (6 Mt), followed by Australia (1.7 Mt, or 0.68 Mt on the stricter JORC reporting basis), Russia (0.8 Mt), Indonesia (0.76 Mt) and Cuba (0.5 Mt). Resources are concentrated in sediment-hosted copper deposits in Congo and Zambia, nickel laterites, and nickel-copper sulphide deposits, which is why cobalt supply is tied to those other metals.
China is the world's leading refiner of cobalt and its leading consumer, mainly for lithium-ion batteries, so much of the cobalt mined in Congo is processed in China as hydroxide or concentrate. Outside China, refined cobalt comes from producers in Finland, Norway, Canada and Japan, among others. Because cobalt is a by-product, refiners process it from several feed types: copper-cobalt concentrates and hydroxide from Congo, nickel intermediates (mixed hydroxide and sulphide) from Indonesia and other nickel producers, and scrap.
Recycling is meaningful and growing. USGS estimates that the cobalt content of purchased scrap was about 25% of cobalt consumption in the United States in 2025, from sources such as superalloy and carbide scrap and spent batteries. Because superalloys and hard metals are high-value products, their scrap is collected and traded actively, and battery recycling is expanding as the first large batches of electric-vehicle batteries reach end of life.
Congo (Kinshasa) shows how a single government decision can move a global market. In February 2025 it temporarily banned cobalt exports to address oversupply and low prices. In October the ban was replaced with export quotas: 18,125 t of contained cobalt for the rest of 2025 and up to 96,600 t a year in 2026 and 2027 (including 9,600 t for national strategic reserves). USGS says uncertainty about supply after the ban probably contributed to a sharp increase in US imports and stocks in 2025. Buyers should treat quota allocations, export licensing and the origin of hydroxide feed as commercial risks, not formalities.
Cobalt trades in several forms with different pricing. Refined metal is quoted per pound or per tonne against an exchange or published price: USGS reports the LME cash price averaged about $15 per pound in 2025 (up from about $11.84 in 2024), and the US spot cathode price about $21 per pound. Intermediates such as hydroxide are sold at a percentage of the metal price (the "payable"), which varies with the cobalt content and the buyer's refining costs.
Battery makers buy cobalt as sulphate or as cathode material, so contract terms often link to the metal price with a processing fee. Alloy and carbide makers buy refined metal and powder to a specification. Policy now sits inside the price: export quotas, the Chinese refining position and US stockpile plans (a US solicitation to buy 7,480 t over five years for the National Defense Stockpile was cancelled before the end of 2025) all affect availability.
For cobalt, decide which form you are actually buying (metal, hydroxide, sulphate, powder) and confirm the cobalt content and impurity limits for that form. Ask where the material was mined and refined, because origin documentation and export-quota exposure are now part of supplier risk.
Talk to a SpecialistProduction and reserve figures are USGS estimates for 2025 unless stated. Figures are rounded and change with each annual revision.