Despite the recent trend reversal which saw cobalt plummet from a high of $93,250/tonne in April 2018 to $28500/tonne in July 2020, cobalt remains a vital input in order to realise an electric economy.
While we believe that cobalt projects outside of the main cobalt basins certainly have their place and may indeed fill some of this demand requirement, Core Consultants sees African deposits as the mainstay for the foreseeable future. This paper provides a technical basis and a clear economic rationale for our thesis that, irrespective of the challenges facing the African Copper Belt, new supply required for the battery sector will mainly be met by African-based cobalt developments and DRC-based deposits in particular.
