the cobalt series, part two: from ore to battery
because cobalt in the Zambian ore system is primarily recovered as a by-product of copper processing, the cobalt circuit is physically integrated into the copper circuit. as copper ore is smelted, cobalt partitions primarily into the slag — the waste product — rather than into the blister copper that is the primary product.
chambishi metals — operated by CNMC — is a specialist cobalt and copper recovery plant designed to process cobalt-bearing slags and residues from multiple copperbelt smelting operations. it takes the material the copper circuit generates as waste — cobalt-rich slags from nkana, mufulira, chambishi — and subjects it to a hydrometallurgical processing route. acid leaching in sulphuric acid solutions. purification through solvent extraction and ion exchange. recovery through electrowinning or precipitation. the result: cobalt metal, cobalt sulphate, cobalt hydroxide.
but cobalt metal and cobalt sulphate are not the final product in the battery supply chain. they are intermediate products that travel from the producing country to battery precursor manufacturers.
the cathode active material for an NMC battery — nickel manganese cobalt oxide — is manufactured from a precursor that blends cobalt sulphate, nickel sulphate, and manganese sulphate in the precise proportions the battery chemistry requires. that precursor manufacturing — the step that converts cobalt sulphate into NMC precursor — happens overwhelmingly in china. approximately 80 percent of the world's NMC precursor is manufactured in guangdong and jiangsu provinces by companies like CNGR advanced material, hunan shanshan, and GEM.
zambia produces cobalt metal and cobalt compounds. it does not yet produce NMC precursor. the processing steps that convert zambian cobalt into the material that battery manufacturers in south korea, japan, and the united states actually use happen in china — adding value in china, generating employment in china, building technical capability in china.
the value addition gap in the cobalt chain is structurally identical to the value addition gap in the copper chain.
the goblin's ore is in the ground.
the question is how much of its value stays in zambia before it reaches the battery. 🔵