SMM News: recently, Vale Group released the first quarter of 2019 results. This paper describes the cobalt production in various regions since the first quarter, of which, with the exception of the areas in the list, Vale's cobalt mines obtained through other areas increased by 325.6% in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the same period last year.

Production profile:

Cobalt (coblat) production reached 1195 tons in the first quarter of 2019, 16.8 per cent lower than in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 9.9 per cent lower than in the first quarter of 2018. The decrease was mainly due to reduced production in Voisey Bay and New Caledonia.

In the first quarter of 2019, Sudbury produced 129t of cobalt (coblat), 18.4 per cent lower than in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 4.9 per cent higher than in the first quarter of 2018. Production was lower than in the fourth quarter of 2018 because of the decline in cobalt (coblat) stocks at Sudbury at our Colborne Port Cobalt (coblat) Refinery in the fourth quarter of 2018.

In the first quarter of 2019, Thompson production was 21:00, 12.5% lower than in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 74.1% lower than in the first quarter of 2018. The decline in production in the first quarter of 2108 was related to inventory consumption and production time in the first quarter of 2018. Thompson's cobalt (coblat) entered the market shorter in the first quarter of 2018 than in the first quarter of 2019, as Thompson moved to 2H18's mine operations.

In the first quarter of 2019, production in Voisey Bay was 467 tons, 16.2 per cent lower than in the first quarter of 2018 and 5.7 per cent lower than in the first quarter of 2018. Production was lower than in the fourth quarter of 2018 due to scheduled repairs at the Long Harbour refinery in the first quarter of 2019. Production was lower than in the first quarter of 2018 due to regular maintenance in Changgang in the first quarter of 2018 and consumption of the source cobalt (coblat), which previously held Voisey, in the Sudbury smelting operation in the first quarter of 2018.

, New Caledonia production reached 412t in the first quarter of 2019, down 26.6 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2018 and 30.1 per cent from the first quarter of 2018. Cobalt (coblat) was affected by the nickel decision to reduce production in order to implement an active maintenance plan to improve asset reliability and to develop an operational plan to improve the quality of final nickel products to meet the needs of the battery industry.

In the first quarter of 2019, production from other sources was 166 tons, 21.2% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 325.6% higher than in the first quarter of 2018. Production from other sources varies depending on the cobalt (coblat) content of the external feed consumed in the process, as well as PTVI source materials processed through the Colborne Port Refinery operating in the North Atlantic.