Category IV · Critical & future minerals
Cobalt.
Key cathode metal. DRC supply concentration risk drives diversification investment globally.
Benchmark
LME cash settlement
Unit
US$ / tonne
Current price · 3-mo forward avg
US$ 30,500 / tonne
Apr — Jul 2026 (forward 3-mo avg)
Key cathode metal. DRC supply concentration risk drives diversification investment globally.
Price · LME cash settlement
2016 — 2035
Solid line: historical annual averages. Dashed line: forward projections (consensus).
Top 5 producing countries
- 01
DRC
70%
Copperbelt — single largest source globally
- 02
Indonesia
9%
Nickel-laterite HPAL co-product
- 03
Russia
4%
Norilsk Nickel
- 04
Australia
3%
Murrin Murrin & nickel co-products
- 05
Philippines
3%
Lateritic nickel-cobalt deposits
Leading companies
- 01
Glencore
Largest non-Chinese cobalt producer (DRC: KCC, Mutanda)
- 02
CMOC (China Molybdenum)
Tenke Fungurume (DRC) operator
- 03
Eurasian Resources Group (ERG)
Metalkol DRC tailings retreatment
- 04
Norilsk Nickel
Russian by-product producer
- 05
Vale
Indonesian and Canadian operations
Of note
- §
DRC supplies ~70% of global cobalt — the highest single-country concentration of any critical mineral.
- §
Battery chemistry is evolving away from cobalt (LFP rising) — though high-energy-density NMC retains material cobalt demand.
- §
Western policy (US DPA, EU CRMA) is funding non-DRC supply diversification.
Sources
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024 · Cobalt Institute. Curated quarterly. Forward projections are consensus indications and are not a guarantee of future prices.