Cobalt: Can Europe supply itself with the important raw material?

(Hier finden Sie die deutsche Version des Beitrags)

Cobalt is a metal that makes bad headlines around the world. At the end of May 2020, satellites of the European Space Agency (ESA) documented the environmental damage after an accident in the Russian mining town of Norilsk. The large city north of the Arctic Circle is considered one of the dirtiest places in the world. Mining companies are suspected of discharging their highly toxic wastewater into the tundra, and authorities have barred foreign visitors from entering. Amnesty International revealed in 2015 that children as young as seven are risking their lives for cobalt in Congo.

Many tunnels in small-scale mining are dug by hand and threaten to collapse or are inadequately ventilated, Amnesty reports in cooperation with local human rights organisations. The daily handling of cobalt rock without protective clothing is harmful to health and can lead to fatal lung diseases. In addition, the exploited mines leave behind major environmental damage. "The large number of abandoned open-pit mines and tailings piles indicates that in many cases no proper recultivation took place," says a 2019 sustainability report by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) for the countries of Congo and Zambia.

These and other examples show how helpful it would be if Germany or Europe could supply themselves with the metal, which is mainly used for batteries and superalloys, from their own stocks. Currently, 46 per cent of cobalt production goes into battery manufacturing. Each laptop, for example, contains between 20 and 50 grams of cobalt. The total consumption will increase significantly due to the conversion of transport to electric mobility. A fully electric car needs about five to ten kilos of cobalt.

Über Rohstoffe und De-Globalisierung:

The past months have painfully shown that dependence on resources comes at a high price. But can the wheel still be turned back? So let's take a look at the supply situation.

How far Europe could supply itself with strategically important raw materials and what that means for industry is what we want to explore with a raw materials article series.

• De-globalisation - how independent can Europe be?
• Can Europe supply itself with lithium?
• Can Europe supply itself with rare earths?
• Can Europe supply itself with steel and aluminium?
• Can Europe supply itself with copper?
• Can Europe supply itself with cobalt?

Rechargeable batteries are one of the necessary key technologies. Europe has therefore reacted and wants to significantly reduce the existing dependence on Asian manufacturers. Supported by EU funding, up to 40 new gigafactories for batteries are being built or planned. At least 15 European countries are participating in this programme. Germany is at the forefront, with more than a quarter of European cell production capacities to be built here.

Great importance in many sectors

The growing importance of cobalt as a battery metal is already reflected in the markets. The Cobalt Institute (CRU) reports that global demand for cobalt in 2021 grew by 22 percent compared to the previous year. Over the next five years, experts expect an increase of about 13 per cent per year. Recycling hardly plays a role in the global market with 13,000 tonnes per year so far. Only ten per cent of cobalt production in 2019 came from the recycling of old appliances and batteries, but this share will increase with greater demand.

Whether European battery production in the producing countries will lead to more environmental protection and better working conditions for the miners in the cobalt mines remains to be seen. What is certain is that Germany will have to import one of the most important raw materials for batteries on a permanent basis. It is true that there are repeated reports that rocks containing cobalt are also being found in Germany. But the impression is deceptive: a new mine in this country would not be profitable even with rising world market prices, because the cobalt content in the rock is far too low. In the summer of 2021, however, the BGR reported on laboratory tests with material from the tailings of mines in the Harz region that have long since been closed.

The scientists were able to isolate cobalt in it. This success raises hopes, because the residues of the old mines also contain other valuable metals that are needed for future technologies. If several raw materials are extracted from the tailings at the same time, a company reaches economic viability more quickly.

For geologists, it is no surprise when cobalt finds are reported. The metal is widespread, but it usually only occurs as a trace element in ores and is therefore hardly exploitable. Cobalt is a typical companion of nickel or copper. Industrially mined nickel and copper ores generally have average cobalt contents of between 0.1 and 0.5 per cent. Cobalt production has been virtually only a waste product in the extraction of other metals. According to the CRU, about 61 % of cobalt production in 2016 came from copper mining and 37 % from nickel mining. With only two percent of global production being extracted in mines built specifically for cobalt.

Locations are available

There used to be 109 sites in Europe, but today the three largest cobalt mines are all in Finland. The Talvivaara nickel mine in central Finland (Sotkamo) produces both cobalt and nickel salts as precursors for batteries. The black shale has only 0.02 per cent cobalt. To ensure that mining and processing meet higher environmental standards, the Finns have contracted a state-run company to do the mining. Two more mines are operating in the north of the country. Finland will become the European cobalt centre, because ores from Russian mines will also be processed there.

Internationally, the Finns will nevertheless only play a minor role with a market share of about ten per cent. The cobalt market is determined by a few players like no other metal. For about ten years, cobalt production from Congolese copper mines has dominated the world market. Its share of production fluctuates: the country's government has shut down individual mines for a few years after fierce protests due to severe environmental damage and accidents with fatalities. On the other hand, the country increases production when world market prices for the metal rise.

The country's leadership is considered corrupt, local militias control the mines. Congo has announced that it will also build its own factories for processing the ores into cobalt salts and thus attack China's supremacy in this business sector. Several leaders have already threatened that their country could form a cartel together with Zambia to regulate the global supply of cobalt according to their own specifications.

(bsc)