A Little-Known Cobalt Miner Wants to Out-Produce Everyone Except Glencore
- Closely held Chemaf plans to compete with biggest producers
- Congo accounted for two-thirds of global supply in 2017
A digger descends into a copper and cobalt mine in Kawama, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Photographer: Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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A little-known cobalt miner in the Democratic Republic of Congo plans to ramp up output so fast it will soon be out-produced only by industry leader Glencore Plc.
Chemaf Sarl, a closely held Lubumbashi-based company, and several other firms are capitalizing on a boom in demand that’s transforming small copper miners into major cobalt players, as refiners and automakers scramble to secure long-term supplies. Prices for the metal, used to make rechargeable batteries in electric vehicles, have more than tripled in the past two years.