Read about the metals needed for electric vehicles and battery storage An electric vehicle can need anywhere between 4 to 14 kilogrammes of cobalt (a plug-in hybrid needs between 1kg-4kg) while the average smartphone needs 5 to 20 grams (tablets and laptops need much more, between 20g-50g). Tesla and other carmakers have said they are trying to minimise the amount of cobalt they need in their batteries while Apple is reportedly looking to take the unusual step of signing cobalt supply agreements directly with miners to wield more power over its supply chain. While cobalt’s unique properties have made it a vital component for so many industries the instability, volatility and uncertainty over supplies means many companies are having to take drastic steps to secure the cobalt they need or try to move away from using the metal altogether. Cobalt: a rare but vital metal for the modern world Cobalt 27 Capital, which invests in metals needed to build electric vehicles, warned earlier this year that the ‘two key issues facing cobalt supply are concentrated production and reserves in the DRC and Chinese control over the majority of refined cobalt output’. While DRC is the home to raw cobalt another country has dominated the other end of the market with China estimated to refine over half of the world’s cobalt. The political environment can be volatile, supplies easily threatened, and operators can suffer from problems with security.

The DRC – a historically unstable country fraught with corruption and war – and its outsized role in the global cobalt market is far from ideal for those wishing to mine or source the metal.

No other country comes close to rivalling this unique concentration of cobalt in the DRC: Cuba, Russia, Australia and the Philippines are other major cobalt producers but none of them account for more than 5% of worldwide output. Over half of the seven million tonnes of cobalt in situ reserves around the world lie in the DRC, and almost two thirds of global production currently comes out of the country.

Cobalt: dominated by the DRC and ChinaĬobalt is extremely rare, and most all-known reserves lie in the unstable jurisdiction in the heart of Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We have a look at the global cobalt market and outline the top 10 cobalt stocks investors should consider adding to their portfolio. In fact, over half of all cobalt produced is used to make battery chemicals with nearly a fifth being used to produce superalloys used in high-end products like aircraft engines. The metal has become a key material in an extensive range of applications, everything from magnets to paints to chemical catalysts, but the spike in demand over more recent years has been down to its crucial role in batteries used in electrical devices and electric cars. The price and popularity of cobalt – a rare, hard, metallic element – has soared over recent years.

Cobalt stock prices