Cobalt prices started 2024 trading at the US$29,151.50 per metric ton level, the highest price point the battery metal achieved in 2024. By the end of the year prices had contracted by 16.68 percent to US$24,287.90.
Prices remained under pressure due to oversupply, with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) maintaining its dominant position as the world’s largest producer.
Meanwhile, efforts to diversify supply chains and reduce reliance on the DRC gained momentum, with new projects and funding infusions announced throughout the year in Canada, and the US.
On the demand side, the rise of battery chemistries utilizing less cobalt, particularly in electric vehicles (EVs), weighed heavily on consumption. Lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries continued gaining market share globally, further pressuring cobalt’s role in the EV sector.
However, cobalt’s use in high-performance batteries for smartphones and other electronics remained resilient, offering a counterbalance to declines elsewhere.
Geopolitics and policy added another layer of complexity, with China expanding its influence in African mining regions and Western nations pursuing stricter supply chain transparency laws.
These dynamics are expected to shape cobalt’s role in the critical metals market into 2025 and beyond, as stakeholders grapple with the metal’s evolving importance in a decarbonized economy.
Residual oversupply from 2023 prevented any price positivity in the cobalt market through 2024.
Over the last three years annual mined supply has soared, from 142,000 metric tons to 230,000 metric tons, a 61 percent increase.
In recent years cobalt mining practices in the DRC have come under fire by international rights groups concerned that artisanal and small-scale cobalt mining operations are using child labour.
Key achievements include supporting the creation of an Interministerial Commission to monitor child labor and a provincial commission in Lualaba.
Since its inception in 2018, the project has trained 458 stakeholders from government, civil society, and private sectors on combating child labor and introduced tools like ILAB’s Comply Chain to 28 mining entities in Lualaba and Haut-Katanga.
Additionally, COTECCO collaborated with the DRC government to establish a Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLRMS), training 110 officials to operate it. By March 2024, the CLRMS database registered 5,346 children and was officially handed over to the Ministry of Mines for sustained management.
Combatting child exploitation in the cobalt supply chain will be paramount as demand from the electric vehicle sector alone is expected to increase by 60 to 70 percent by 2040.
The DRC is projected to play a vital role in supplying the majority of the 214,000 metric tons of cobalt demand expected by 2030.
Analysts suggest that while Tesla’s sales dip impacted overall market perceptions, the broader EV market remained robust, with traditional manufacturers gaining traction.
The plans include an EV assembly plant and a standalone battery manufacturing facility. Joint ventures will add a cathode active material processing plant and a separator plant.
The assembly plant aims to produce 240,000 vehicles annually, while the battery facility will have a 36 gigawatt hour capacity.
Due to its critical mineral designation the cobalt sector has also been the recipient of government funding.
The funding is part of the Canada-US Energy Transformation Task Force.
“Through our work with the United States and other allies, we are developing secure critical minerals value chains that will power a prosperous and sustainable future,” he added.
“We predict that EV batteries will never return to the era that relies on cobalt,” said Zhou Xing, a spokesperson for CMOC. “Cobalt is far less important than imagined.”
As coblt’s future in the EV space begins to be clouded with uncertainty, demand persists in consumer electronics segment, which rely on lithium-cobalt-oxide batteries, and in superalloys for aerospace and military applications.
Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Fortune Minerals is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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