Reserves
Cobalt ores tend to occur in two broad geological settings:
- Sedimentary. Two large sedimentary deposits are the European Kupferschiefer, or “copper shale”, and the Central African Copperbelt. Both deposits contain vast amounts of copper sulfides along with a significant amount of associated cobalt minerals.
- Volcanogenic. Volcanogenic ore deposits come from hydrothermal processes, where copper and cobalt sulfide minerals precipitate from fluids passing through hydrothermal vents. Volcanogenic cobalt deposits are very rare and are the only formations where cobalt is mined as a primary product, rather than as a byproduct of copper or nickel mining.
Mining
- Bou-Azzer mine in Morocco.
- New Idaho Cobalt Operations (ICO) project. The only Co mine in US
- Australia’s Jervois Mining. Primarily cobaltite, which is a compound of cobalt, arsenic, and sulfur (CoAsS). Identified to up to 1% cobalt, which is rich for a volcanogenic deposit
- Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). about 60% of the world’s supply of cobalt came from DRC. Reported to have serious human right violation issue
- Russia
Extraction
Cobalt is a byproduct of copper mining. After copper being extracted (as shown below), a series of chemical precipitation steps and a leaching step are taken to selectively remove the other metals from the electrolyte, and gradually enriching the cobalt in the solution, followed by a final precipitation by adding lime to create cobalt (II) hydroxide (pink).
