Development of China's Cobalt Industry: Current Status, Problems, and Countermeasures

Cobalt is an essential material for the development of the new energy industry. Based on the latest data regarding the cobalt resource industry of China and worldwide, this study analyzes the challenges faced by the development of China’s cobalt resource industry from the aspects of cobalt resource endowment, supply-demand situation of cobalt concentrate and refined cobalt, and industry policy. China is the world’s largest producer of refined cobalt and largest consumer of cobalt; however, its cobalt resources are extremely scarce and its ultra-high dependence on foreign countries and single source of imports have put China’s cobalt resource security at risk. In response to the above problems, we propose the following countermeasures: (1) adopting effective measures to increase China’s cobalt reserves; (2) diversifying cobalt import channels to ensure a stable access to overseas cobalt resources; (3) implementing supportive policies to help China-invested overseas enterprises stabilize their production; (4) establishing a cobalt reserve system to improve the cobalt resource guarantee capacity of China; (5) strengthening the comprehensive utilization technologies to increase the amount of available cobalt resources; and (6) emphasizing research of potential cobalt resources, such as sea-floor cobalt resources in ferromanganese nodules and crusts.