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Indian Minerals Yearbook 2013

(Part- II : Metals & Alloys)

52nd Edition

COBALT

(FINAL RELEASE)

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINES

INDIAN BUREAU OF MINES

Indira Bhavan, Civil Lines, NAGPUR 440 001

PHONE/FAX NO. (0712) 2565471 PBX : (0712) 2562649, 2560544, 2560648

E-MAIL : cme@ibm.gov.in Website: www.ibm.gov.in

May, 2015

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4 Cobalt

Cobalt is an important ferromagnetic strategicalloying metal having irreplaceable industrialapplications. Cobalt is associated mostly withcopper, nickel and arsenic ores.

RESOURCESOccurrences of cobalt are reported from

Singhbhum district, Jharkhand; Kendujhar andJajpur distr icts , Odisha; Jhunjhunu distr ict ,Rajasthan; Tuensang district, Nagaland; andJhabua and Hoshangabad dis tr ic ts , MadhyaPradesh. Cobalt associated with lateri t icnickel deposit in Sukinda area, Odisha and copperslags are two possible secondary resources ofcobalt along with sea-bed multimetal nodules.

As per UNFC system, resources of cobalt interms of ore as on 1.4.2010 are estimated at44.91 million tonnes of which about 69%, i.e.30.91 million tonnes are estimated in Odisha.The remaining 31% resources are in Jharkhand(9 million tonnes) and Nagaland (5 million tonnes).Resources o f coba l t as per UNFC sys temare furnished below in Table-1.

USESMajor use of cobal t is in metal lurgical

applications, in special alloy/super alloy industry,in magnets and cutting tools industries. Cobalt-based super alloys normally contain 45% or morecobalt, while nickel and iron-based super alloyscontain 8 to 20% cobalt. Cobalt oxide is used inchemical applications such as catalyst, dyes and

pigments , pa in t dr iers /adhes ives and glass& ceramics. Cobalt catalyst, mostly cobalt acetate,is used in terephthalic acid (TPA) and di-methyl-terephthalate (DMT) manufacture.

Super alloys made of cobalt have improvedstrength and wear & corrosion-resistancecharacteristics at elevated temperatures. Another useof cobalt-based super alloys is in turbines forpipeline compressors and jet aircraft engines. Hard-facing or cutting tools with cobalt alloys providegreater resistance to wear, heat, impact andcorrosion. Cobalt powder finds an importantapplication as a binder in the production ofcemented tungsten carbides for heavy-duty and high-speed cutting tools. It is also used on bonded toolsfor diamond industry. Cobalt is used to improve thecoating adhesive property of enamel in steelappliances and in manufacturing steel-belted tyres.Cobalt-molybdenum-alumina compound is used ascatalyst in hydrogenation and for petroleumdesulphurisation. Elemental Cobalt-60 (radioactiveisotope, a production of atomic pile) is used inindustrial radiography and therapeutics. Cobalt canretain ferromagnetic property up to a temperature of1,100oC, highest for any metal. It is used inmanufacturing of Alnico magnets, magneticrecording media, soft magnetic material, alloys forspacecraft, etc. The use of cobalt-rare earthpermanent magnet will continue where specificadvantages of reliability and good performanceare required. Other significant uses of cobalt arein battery electrodes, airbags in automobiles, etc.

Table 1: Reserves/Resources of Cobalt Ore as on 1.4.2010(By States)

(In million tonnes)

Remaining resourcesState Reserves To ta l

to t a l Measured Indicated Inferred Reconnaissance To ta l Resources(A) STD331 STD332 STD333 STD334 (B) (A+B)

All India 30 .63 2 0 . 2 8 1 2 44 .91 44 .91Jharkhand 2 7 9 9Nagaland _ 5 5 5Odisha 30 .63 0 . 2 8 30 .91 30 .91

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INDUSTRY & PRODUCTIONPresently, there is no production of cobalt in

the country from indigenous ores. The refinedproduction of cobalt was reported to be around1,187 tonnes in 2010, 1300 tonnes in 2011 and580 tonnes in 2012 from imported feed material.The remain ing demand of coba l t i s metthrough imports.

Refining capacity of cobalt in India is estimatedat about 2,560 tonnes per year. Of these, NicometIndustries Ltd and Rubamin Ltd were India'sleading producers of cobalt cathodes andcompounds. Installed capacity for cobalt metal anddifferent cobalt salts at Nicomet is 1,000 tpy. Anothercobalt refinery, Conic Metals Ltd, Mumbai whichproduced cobalt sulphate and carbonate reportedlyremained closed since 2001.

The refiners source the heterogeneite-typecobalt ores from the Democratic Republic ofCongo and other countries. The units manufacturehigh-purity cobalt metal and salts, viz, sulphate,acetate, oxide, chloride, carbonate and nitrateof cobalt. Cobalt metal powder is reportedlyrecovered from cemented carbide scrap by SandvikAsia Ltd at its pilot plant in Pune, Maharashtra. Inaddition, spent cobalt catalysts from plantsproducing DMT, TPA and oxo alcohols are alsounderstood to be reprocessed by several smallcobalt chemical processors. However, informationon reprocessing of cobalt from scrap is notavailable. It is expected that recycled cobalt wouldcontinue to be used for domestic supply.

SUBSTITUTESCobalt is used in specialised applications and

is difficult to be substituted. Potential substitutesinclude barium or strontium ferrites, neodymium-iron-boron or nickel-iron alloys in magnets; nickel,cermets or ceramics in cutting and wear-resistantmaterials; nickel-based alloys or ceramics in jetengines; nickel in petroleum catalysts; rhodiumin hydroformylation catalysts; and cerium, lead,manganese, iron, or vanadium in paints. Presently,about one-third of cobalt is replaced by cobalt-manganese-nickel in lithium-ion batteries.

TRADE POLICYAs per the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-2014,

imports of cobalt ores & concentrates underheading No. 2605 and cobalt alloys and itsproducts under heading No. 8105 are allowedfreely, except cobalt waste & scrap (ITC-HSCode No. 8105 3000) which are restricted.

WORLD REVIEWThe world cobalt reserves are estimated at

7.2 million tonnes of metal content. Cobalt reserves aremainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)which contributes 47% to the total reserves. Besides,major reserves are located in Australia, Cuba, Zambia,Canada, Russia and New Caledonia. Majority of thesereserves are in nickel-bearing laterite deposits andrest in nickel-copper sulphide deposits hosted in maficand ultramafic rocks in Australia, Canada and Russiaand in sedimentary copper deposits of Congo(DRC) and Zambia. Several million tonnes ofpotential resources of cobalt are also containedin sea-bed manganese nodules. Exploitation of cobalt-bearing manganese nodules from the deeper parts ofthe sea may be witnessed in the present century.The world reserves of cobalt are given in Table-2.

Table 2 : World Reserves of Cobalt(By Principal Countries)

(In '000 tonnes of metal content)

Count ry Reserves

World: Total (Rounded) 7 2 0 3Australia 1 0 0 0

Brazil 8 9

Canada 2 6 0

China 8 0

Congo, Dem. Rep. (Kinshasa) 3 4 0 0Cuba 5 0 0

Morocco 1 8

New Caledonia 2 0 0

Russia 2 5 0

USA 3 6

Zambia 2 7 0

Other countries 1 1 0 0

Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2014.

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The world mine production of cobalt interms of metal content decreased marginally to128,000 tonnes in 2012 from 141,000 tonnes in theprevious year. The Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) was the principal producer contributingabout 68%, followed by China (5% ), Zambia andAustralia (4% each), Brazil, Canada & Cuba(3% each), Phillipinese New Caledonia & Russia(2% each) and Morocco (1%) (Table-3).

Table 3 : World Mine Production of Cobalt(By Principal Countries) (In tonnes of metal Content)

Country 2010 2011 2012

World: Total 135000 141000 128000

Australia 4838 4254 5413

Brazil 3139 3150 3650

Canada 4636 7071 3652

China 6382 6843 7000e

Congo, Dem. Rep. 97693 99475 86433

Cuba 3721 3850 3700e

Morocco 1582 1518 1314

New Caledonia 1735 2404 2631

Philippines 1500 1500 2269

Russia 2460 2337 2186

Zambia 5134 5956 5665

Other countries 2180 2642 4087

Source: World Mineral Production, 2008-2012.

BelgiumUmicore's 2011 cobalt refinery production

increased to 3187 tonnes due to greater availabilityof sc rap resu l t ing f rom h igher p r ices andhigher levels of downstream production. Umicoreconverted cobal t metal , res idues and othercobalt-bearing materials into a wide range ofcobal t special i ty products , including metalpowders , hydroxides , ox ides , sa l t s andcompounds. Umicore built plants in S. Korea,Japan & in Hoboken, Belgium using recyclingfacility for spent rechargeable batteries andbattery manufacturing scrap.

ChinaChina ' s to ta l p roduc t ion of re f ined

cobalt made it the world's leading producer. Mostof the produc t ion was f rom impor tedores, concentrates and semi-refined materialssourced from Congo (Kinshasa).

Congo (Kinshasa)Congo(Kinshasa) was the world's leading

producer of mined cobalt . Some of Congo's(Kinshasa ' s ) o res and concent ra tes wereexported, some were processed to semi-refinedmater ia ls such as cobal t carbonate , cobal thydroxide or cobalt-bearing alloys and some wererefined to cobalt metal.

Boss Mining had commissioned the newcopper solvent extraction portion of its newcobal t so lvent ex t rac t ion - e lec t rowinning(SX-EW) plant at Luita, but had suspended thecobalt extraction portion due to its economic non-viability. In 2011, Mutanda mined Copper-Cobaltoxide ore from open pits near Kolwezi andproduced 7,900 tonnes of Cobalt in concentrateand hydroxide.

FinlandTalvivaara Mining Co. Plc continued to

ramp up and opt imise product ion f rom i t spolymetallic sulphide mine and bioheap-leachingoperation in Sotkamo in central Finland. In 2011,Talvivaara sold nickel-cobalt sulphide containingapproximately 400 tonnes of cobalt to Norilsk forprocessing at Harjavalta.

AustraliaThe Yakubu Ni-Co refinery in Townsville,

Queensland (2631 tonnes refined Co), BHPBilliton, W. Australia (500 tonnes Co sulphide),Glencore's Murrin Murrin Ni-Co-laterite mine, W.Australia (2091 tonnes Co metal), First QuantumMinerals Ltd (200 tonnes of Co), PanoramicResources Ltd (453 tonnes of Co) and XstrataNickel Australasia (396 tonnes of Co) were thenoteworthy producers in 2011. OJSC, MMC,Norilsk Nickel also started production from theLake Johnston nickel sulphide mine and millduring the year 2011.

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JapanSumitomo planned to increase Niihama's

produc t ion capac i ty to accomodate thenickel-cobalt mixed sulphide feed that wouldbe genera ted f rom i t s Tagani to p ro jec t inthe Phi l ippines . Sumitomo's product ion ofelectrolyte cobalt at its Niihama nickel refineryincreased by 4% in 2011.

New CaledoniaVale completed commissioning of its Vale

New Caledonia project in the southern tip ofNew Caledonia 's main is land and produced245 tonnes of cobalt. The project, which wasoriginally called Goro comprised a nickel-cobalt-l a te r i t e mine , h igh pressure ac id leach ingprocessing plant and refinery. Vale expected toramp up produc t ion to reach the nomina lproduction capacity of 60,000 tonnes per yearof n icke l con ta ined in n icke l ox ide and4,600 tonnes per year of cobalt contained incobalt carbonate.

South AfricaThe Nkomati nickel sulphide mine produced

513 tonnes of cobalt in 2011 (667 tonnes in 2010).At full s teady-state production forecast for2014, the mine was expected to produce 1,000 tpyof cobalt in concentrates.

Some of South Africa's PGM operationsproduced cobal t sulphate a t i t s base metalrefinery. Rustenburg Base Metal Refinery, NorthWest Prov ince and Impala P la t inum Ltdnear Springs, Gauteng Province produced cobaltmetal powder at its base-metal refinery. Twoother plat inum producers - Lonmin plc andNortham Plat inum Ltd operated base-metalrefineries and produced semi-refined nickelsulphate containing cobalt.

ZambiaKonkola Copper Mines Plc (KCM) mined

copper ores from its Nchanga open pit and

Konkola opera t ions . China Non-fe r rousMetal Mining Group Co Ltd (CNMC) minedand processed Cu-Co ore in the Zambian copperbel t through 4 majori ty-owned subsidiariesnamely NFCA, CLM, CCS and Sino-Metal leachZambia Ltd.

ZimbabweAquar ius P la t inum Ltd in the year

2011 produced 86 tonnes of cobalt from itsMimosa platinum mines. The concentrates wererefined by Impala in South Africa.

FOREIGN TRADEExports

Exports of cobalt and alloys including wasteand scrap sharply decreased to 67 tonnes in2012-13 as against 298 tonnes in the previous year.Out of the total exports in 2012-13, exportsof cobalt and alloys were 58 tonnes and thoseof cobalt waste & scrap were 9 tonnes. Exportswere mainly to Netherlands (31%), France (21%)and USA (12%),Rep. of Korea & UAE (9% each)(Tables - 4 to 7).

ImportsImports of cobalt ores and concentrates

sharply decreased to 443 tonnes in 2012-13 from1,196 tonnes in the previous year. Imports weremainly f rom Congo Rep.of (31%), CongoDemocratic Rep.of (33%), Australia (17%) andMalayasia (7%). Imports of cobalt and alloysdecreased to 672 tonnes in 2012-13 f rom994 tonnes in the previous year. Imports in2012-13 were mainly from Norway (26%), USA(15%), Belgium (11%), Canada (10%), China (8%)and Zambia (4%). However, imports of cobaltin the form of cobalt powder, other articles andunwrought cobalt also took place (Tables-8 to 12).Imports of cobalt powder at 174 tonnes, cobalt(o ther a r t i c les ) a t 223 tonnes and coba l t(unwrought) at 275 tonnes.

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Table 4 : Exports of Cobalt Ores & Conc.(By Countries)

2011-12 2012-13Country

Qty Value Qty Value(t) (L 000) (t) (L 000)

All Countries 5 1 3741 - -China 5 1 3740 - -Netherlands ++ 1 - -Other countries - - - -

Table 6: Exports of Cobalt & Alloys(By Countries)

2011-12 2012-13Country

Qty Value Qty Value(t) (L 000) (t) (L 000)

All Countries 285 414093 5 8 73025Netherlands 113 176828 2 1 31566Korea, Rep. of 3 2 58552 6 16719UAE ++ 1 6 9992Italy 1 3523 3 8055USA 114 141637 6 3753Sri Lanka 1 2630 ++ 944Belgium - - 1 779France - - 1 4 556Saudi Arabia ++ 6 8 ++ 449Bangladesh - - 1 5 7Other countries 2 4 30854 ++ 215

Table 5 : Exports of Cobalt & Alloys(Including Waste and Scrap)

(By Countries)2011-12 2012-13

CountryQty Value Qty Value(t) (L 000) (t) (L 000)

All Countries 298 424073 6 7 80649Netherlands 113 176828 2 1 31566USA 115 142878 8 6070Korea, Rep. of 3 2 58552 6 16719UK 1 6 20453 4 4245Germany 1 2 6277 3 1063UAE ++ 1 6 9992Italy 1 3523 3 8055Belgium - - 1 719Sri Lanka 1 2630 ++ 944France - - 1 4 556Other countries 8 12931 1 720

Table 7 : Exports of Cobalt Waste & Scrap(By Countries)

2011-12 2012-13Country

Qty Value Qty Value(t) (L 000) (t) (L 000)

All Countries 1 3 9979 9 7624UK 6 5772 4 4245USA 1 1241 2 2317Germany 6 2966 3 1062

Table 8 : Imports of Cobalt Ores & Conc.(By Countries)

2 0 1 1 - 1 2 2 0 1 2 - 1 3Country

Q t y Value Q t y Value( t ) (L 000) ( t ) (L 000)

Al l Countr ies 11 9 6 1 2 5 1 5 0 1 4 4 3 5 4 8 7 9 9

Zaire Rep/Congo, Dem. Rep. of 1 6 8 227913 1 4 8 195871

Congo, Rep. of 4 1 7 357291 1 3 5 180435

Australia ++ 8 7 6 80711

Unspecified 3 3 6 322723 3 1 41263

Malayasia - - 3 1 29572

Brazil - - 2 2 20947

Other countries 2 7 5 343566 - -

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Table 9 : Imports of Cobalt & Alloys(By Countries)

2 0 1 1 - 1 2 2 0 1 2 - 1 3Country

Q t y Value Q t y Value( t ) (L 000) ( t ) (L 000)

Al l Countr ies 9 9 4 1 9 11 6 8 0 6 7 2 1 4 0 9 3 4 9

Norway 2 5 9 5 2 2 9 9 0 1 7 5 3 1 5 4 6 3

USA 1 1 5 2 5 6 7 9 0 1 0 4 2 7 8 9 6 2

Belgium 9 1 2 2 2 0 7 3 7 6 1 7 6 2 6 5

China 7 9 1 3 8 1 7 5 5 4 1 1 2 7 7 1

Canada 4 2 7 5 7 8 7 6 4 1 0 0 4 9 2

France 2 2 6 9 5 8 9 2 8 8 7 5 1 6

Zambia 7 9 1 3 2 6 8 6 2 8 4 5 9 1 0

Germany 7 2 3 0 9 6 9 3 8 4 3 2

Congo Rep of 2 1 3 6 5 8 4 2 2 3 5 2 4 9

Korea, Rep. of 4 3 6 2 1 7 3 1 9 3 3 2 6 0

Other countries 2 3 6 3 7 1 7 3 7 9 3 1 8 5 0 2 9

Table 10 : Imports of Cobalt Powders(By Countries)

2 0 1 1 - 1 2 2 0 1 2 - 1 3Country

Q t y Value Q t y Value( t ) (L 000) ( t ) (L 000)

Al l Countr ies 1 5 4 3 8 6 2 4 7 1 7 4 4 2 1 9 2 3

Belgium 6 6 1 6 3 0 8 7 5 1 1 2 3 0 4 3

USA 3 1 8 0 8 8 0 3 4 9 6 1 6 3

China 2 3 5 5 2 6 3 2 7 5 4 8 9 0

Canada 4 6 6 4 5 2 5 3 7 7 9 3

France 8 2 1 3 9 0 1 2 3 3 4 7 0

Germany 1 3 2 0 0 4 1 9 2 5 3

U K 5 1 0 0 3 1 6 1 7 1 1 4

Finland 3 7 8 8 5 6 1 4 9 9 2

Japan 1 4 7 9 2 2 6 2 8 5

Equatorial Guinea - - 1 3 6 9 8

Other countries 1 2 3 3 0 7 4 6 1 5 2 2 2

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Table 11 : Imports of Cobalt (Other Articles)(By Countries)

2 0 1 1 - 1 2 2 0 1 2 - 1 3Country

Q t y Value Q t y Value( t ) (L 000) ( t ) (L 000)

Al l Countr ies 4 2 6 7 2 9 5 0 3 2 2 3 5 0 3 8 8 0

USA 8 0 1 6 8 5 3 8 6 5 1 7 1 2 1 9

Belgium 2 4 5 4 7 3 8 2 5 5 2 5 5 8

China 4 9 6 6 6 9 7 2 1 4 5 8 3 7

France 1 2 4 1 7 2 1 1 2 4 1 4 6 2

Zambia 4 0 6 5 4 3 9 2 3 3 8 5 1 6

Canada 1 3 2 5 8 1 9 2 0 3 4 2 3 6

Germany 5 1 7 9 5 5 5 1 8 6 2 4

South Africa 1 0 1 7 2 5 6 9 1 4 7 4 7

Qatar - - 1 0 1 3 6 1 8

U K 1 4 2 8 7 6 3 7 1 3 3 3 8

Other countries 1 7 9 2 4 2 5 7 7 2 6 5 9 7 2 5

Table 12 : Imports of Cobalt (Unwrought)(By Countries)

2 0 1 1 - 1 2 2 0 1 2 - 1 3Country

Q t y Value Q t y Value( t ) (L 000) ( t ) (L 000)

Al l Countr ies 4 1 4 7 9 5 9 3 0 2 7 5 4 8 3 5 4 6

Norway 2 5 9 5 2 2 9 9 0 1 7 5 3 1 5 4 6 3

Morocco - - 2 1 3 2 2 4 0

Congo Rep. of 1 1 1 9 6 3 1 1 8 2 8 4 8 0

Canada 2 5 4 3 3 2 3 1 9 2 8 4 6 3

Korea, Rep of 3 5 2 0 6 1 3 1 9 0 5 6

France 2 6 4 7 8 4 1 2 5 8 5

China 7 1 6 2 1 5 6 1 2 0 4 4

USA 4 7 3 7 1 5 1 1 5 7 9

Zambia 3 9 6 7 2 4 6 5 7 3 9 4

Myanmar - - 4 6 4 9 2

Other countries 6 4 1 0 7 4 7 0 5 9 7 5 0

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FUTURE OUTLOOKIndia does not have any primary cobalt

resources. Two possible secondary sources arenickel-bearing laterite deposits in Odisha anddeclining copper slag produced by HCL, whichhave been under R&D studies for commercialapplications over the years. Recovery in smallquantities of cobalt from wastes like cutting-toolscrap and beta-naphtha cake from the z incindustry was carried out in the late 1980s. Inaddition, conversion of spent catalysts fromplants producing TPA, DMT and the oxo-alcoholswere also carried out as a regular source ofcobalt, though, these were mostly recycled. Thecobalt refiners in India have catered to themarket for chemical applications or where thecobalt metal or salt is dissolved and converted tocobalt oxide for cutting tools application.

Due to specialised nature of applications anddifficulty in substitution, the future demand forcobalt is likely to follow an increasing trend.

The bulk demand for cobalt in the world wouldbe in cemented carbides used in cutting tools,catalysts in petrochemical industry, dryingagent in paint industry and in super alloys usedmainly in jet engine parts. The demand forcobalt is supposed to go up with use of super-alloys in civil aviation, catalysts for gas-to-l iquid production of synthet ic l iquid fuels ,rechargeable batteries for hybrid electric vehicles,cel lular te lephones, aerospace and energygeneration industries which use cobalt-bearingsuper alloy gas turbine engine parts. During thelast year, global demand for lithium-ion batterieshas grown rapidly as a result of the increase indemand for mobile phones, portable PCs &electronic devices. In India, cobalt will find majorapplications in metallurgy due to greater demandin special alloys/super alloys and in cutting toolsand as an alloy in permanent magnets. Cobaltpowder demand will continue to grow for bondedtools in diamond industry.