Cobalt Stocks List

Glencore is one of the world's largest cobalt producers, second to CMOC, with most of its reported cobalt output arising as a by-product of the Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) and Mutanda copper-cobalt operations in the DRC, alongside smaller volumes from its Murrin Murrin nickel operation in Australia and its integrated nickel operations in Canada. It produced 36,100 tonnes of cobalt in 2025, down 5% from 38,200 tonnes in 2024, a reduction Glencore attributed to prioritising copper production over cobalt given the DRC export restrictions.

The DRC suspended cobalt exports in February 2025 and replaced the ban in October 2025 with a quota system capping producer exports at 87,000 tonnes a year for 2026 and 2027. Glencore reported that KCC and Mutanda made no cobalt exports in the fourth quarter of 2025, holding above-quota material as inventory in-country. Its diversified earnings base and marketing operations may provide more resilience to cobalt price and policy swings than a pure play, and Glencore management has argued that the quota system helps rebalance a structurally oversupplied market.

Vale's cobalt exposure is modest and arises as a by-product of nickel rather than as a strategic focus. Its principal cobalt-bearing operations are in Canada, including Voisey's Bay and the Long Harbour refinery. PT Vale Indonesia, in which Vale holds about 33.9%, also sells nickel matte containing a small amount of cobalt.

Vale also has interests in Indonesian projects using HPAL technology at Pomalaa and Sorowako, but these are under development rather than current cobalt-producing operations. Vale Base Metals oversees the group's base-metals portfolio and is a subsidiary owned about 90% by Vale and 10% by Saudi Arabia's Manara Minerals; it is not a separately listed company. Overall, cobalt remains a minor nickel by-product and a relatively small source of supply outside the DRC.

CMOC is the world's largest cobalt producer, accounting for roughly 40% of global mined supply, through its Tenke Fungurume (TFM) and Kisanfu (KFM) copper-cobalt operations in the DRC. The two mines produced 114,165 tonnes of cobalt in 2024, a 106% year-on-year increase, and about 117,500 tonnes in 2025. The rapid ramp-up contributed to a large global surplus and downward pressure on cobalt prices before the DRC imposed export controls.

After the DRC suspended exports in February 2025, CMOC reported about 48,600 tonnes of cobalt inventory in-country at the end of the first quarter of 2025. Production continued because cobalt is recovered as a by-product of copper, though CMOC can vary how much saleable cobalt hydroxide it converts and holds, so the by-product dynamic reduces but does not eliminate its incentive to keep mining. CMOC owns 80% of TFM and holds a 71.25% effective interest in KFM, with CATL holding 23.75% and the DRC state 5%.

Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt is a vertically integrated battery-materials company, spanning copper-cobalt mining in the DRC, nickel-cobalt HPAL operations in Indonesia, and refining and cathode-material manufacturing in China, South Korea and Hungary, where its first cathode-material phase was completed and entered commissioning in 2025. Cobalt products contributed about 6% of revenue in 2025, as nickel intermediates and battery materials have become much larger businesses.

The DRC business supplies crude cobalt hydroxide to Huayou's Chinese refineries, where it is processed into cobalt sulphate and other battery-grade intermediates for cathode production. For FY2025 the company reported record net profit attributable to shareholders of about RMB 6.11 billion, up 47%, on revenue of RMB 81.02 billion, helped by higher cobalt prices and the ramp-up of its Huayue (60%) and Huafei (51%) HPAL projects in Indonesia. DRC export controls have raised cobalt-product prices while also adding feedstock-availability risk for Chinese refiners.

Umicore is a downstream cobalt refiner, cathode-material producer and battery recycler rather than a miner. Its Cobalt and Specialty Materials business refines, transforms and markets cobalt and nickel specialty products through a global network that includes the Kokkola refinery in Finland and the Olen site in Belgium, with cobalt and nickel chemicals also feeding its battery cathode-materials activities.

Under Umicore's 2025 reporting reorganisation, its battery-recycling platform moved into the Battery Materials Solutions business group as Battery Recycling Solutions. Umicore states that its recycling process recovers more than 95% of cobalt, nickel and copper and more than 90% of lithium from end-of-life batteries. The group's cobalt position rests on refining, materials technology and recycling rather than mine ownership, and higher premiums for cobalt products contributed to earnings growth in Cobalt and Specialty Materials in 2025.

Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ / TSXV: ELBM) is a Canadian battery-materials company building what it describes as North America's only battery-grade cobalt sulphate refinery, at Temiskaming Shores in Ontario. The refinery is under construction rather than in production: in February 2026 Electra approved a US$73 million construction budget, and it has secured a binding C$20 million federal funding agreement toward construction and commissioning. Electra targets initial commissioning of selected circuits in late 2026 and commercial production in the fourth quarter of 2027, at an initial capacity of about 5,120 tonnes of contained cobalt a year.

The company recapitalised in 2025 through a lender-supported debt-to-equity conversion and new financing, converting a large portion of its debt into equity. Its audited 2025 financial statements flagged a material uncertainty about the company's ability to continue as a going concern, citing recurring losses and negative operating cash flows. Its exposure is to cobalt refining and midstream processing rather than mining, positioned as a non-DRC, North American source of battery-grade cobalt for Western supply chains. Electra also holds cobalt-copper exploration ground in the Idaho Cobalt Belt, including the Iron Creek project, and has trialled black-mass battery recycling at the Ontario site.

Cobalt Blue Holdings (ASX: COB) is an Australian cobalt developer and minerals processor. Its 100%-owned Broken Hill Cobalt Project in New South Wales is a pyrite-hosted, cobalt-led deposit that also contains nickel and is designed to produce saleable elemental sulphur, and for which the company is preparing an updated pre-feasibility study targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026. The company is pre-production.

Cobalt Blue's primary near-term objective is the proposed Kwinana Cobalt Refinery in Western Australia, a multi-feed facility intended to produce battery-grade cobalt sulphate and cobalt metal and advancing toward a final investment decision under a pre-FID consortium with Iwatani Australia. The company reported in March 2026 that JV documentation and operational plans remained pending. Its portfolio also includes the Broken Hill Technology Centre. The company positions its Australian location and midstream-processing strategy as a way to diversify cobalt supply outside the DRC, though Broken Hill is cobalt-led rather than a nickel-free deposit.