[nickel, cobalt and lithium summit] practical information! World production and Trade of Nickel and Cobalt Intermediate products

[live] focus: global economy, Nickel, Cobalt, Lithium Price, Battery Technology and Battery Recycling

"[live broadcast] under the background of carbon neutralization, the development prospect of stainless steel and nickel industry 2021 Review and Prospect of the Global Nickel Market

"[live broadcast] Review and Prospect of Cobalt and Lithium Market; Analysis on Recycling of carbon Neutralization Battery current situation and trend of Power Battery Recycling

SMM5 March 21: at the SMM2021 (sixth) China International Nickel-Cobalt-Lithium Summit Forum, Jinchuan Group Co., Ltd., Jinchuan Nickel-Cobalt Research and Design Institute du Guangyan introduced the world production and trade of nickel-cobalt intermediate products.

Development status of Nickel Industry in the World

Nickel-cobalt metal and its derivative products are important strategic resources to ensure national defense and security, and are of great significance to the sustainable development of the national economy. They are widely used in aerospace, marine ships, nuclear energy, new energy, environmental protection and high-end equipment manufacturing and other fields. The United States, Japan, the European Union and China have all positioned nickel and cobalt as strategic metals and incorporated them into the strategic material reserve system.

Nickel is a silver-white non-ferrous metal with atomic number 28, melting point 1455 ℃ and boiling point 2730 ℃. The density is 8.902 grams per cubic centimeter. Nickel has good mechanical strength, magnetic properties and high chemical stability. With the advancement of the new technological revolution and the spring tide of industrial change, nickel has become one of the commonly used non-ferrous metals. Especially in stainless steel, superalloy, electroplating, battery, chemical and other fields, it is an indispensable metal material for the development of strategic emerging industries and national defense science and technology to support the high level of human material and cultural life.

World nickel production in 2020:

(1) Mine nickel production: according to the data released by the International Nickel Research Group (INSG), the global nickel ore production in 2020 was 2.3904 million tons, a decrease of 5.4% compared with the same period last year.

(2) Primary nickel production: according to the (INSG) data of the International Nickel Research Group, the global primary nickel production in 2020 was 2.497 million tons, an increase of 5.3% over the same period last year. From a regional point of view, global primary nickel production: (1) in Asia, the output was 1.6068 million tons, an increase of 12.3 percent over the same period last year, accounting for 64.35 percent of the world's primary nickel production; (2) 412200 tons in Europe, unchanged from the same period last year, accounting for 16.51 percent of the world's primary nickel production; (3) 276300 tons in the Americas, a decrease of 2.2 percent over the same period last year, accounting for 11.07 percent of the world's primary nickel production; (4) Oceania 188100 tons, down 3.4% from the same period last year, accounting for 7.53% of the world's primary nickel production; (5) Africa 39400 tons, down 46% from the same period last year, accounting for 1.58% of the world's primary nickel production.

World primary nickel consumption and consumption structure in 2020:

World primary nickel consumption in 2020: according to the data released by the International Nickel Research Group (INSG), the global primary nickel consumption in 2020 is 2.3741 million tons, of which Asia 1.9531 million tons (China 1.41 million tons, 59.4%, Japan 146300 tons, South Korea 79800 tons), accounting for 82.28%; Europe 271300 tons, accounting for 11.43%; America 135800 tons, accounting for 5.72%; Africa has 12100 tons, accounting for 1800 tons in Oceania.

Consumption structure of nickel:

World nickel research organization (INSG) 2020 world nickel consumption structure: stainless steel 65%, non-ferrous alloy 13%, battery 7%, electroplating 4%, special steel 6%, catalyst 3%, other total 2%.

SMM (SMM) 2020 Chinese nickel consumption structure: stainless steel 80%, battery 8%, electroplating 5%, non-ferrous alloy 4%, other total 3%.

Production and Trade of Nickel Intermediate products in the World

On March 1, 2021, Qingshan signed an agreement with Huayou Cobalt and Zhongwei, which plans to provide 60,000 tons of high matte to Huayou Cobalt and 40,000 tons of matte to Zhongwei in one year from October 2021. Aoyama Industries said that it will continue to increase its investment in Indonesia's nickel industry. Qingshan Holdings will produce 477800 tons of nickel in 2020, including 397800 tons of Qingshan in Indonesia and 80, 000 tons in China. It is expected to produce 600000 tons of nickel equivalent in 2021, 850000 tons in 2022 and 1.1 million tons in 2023. The output of pyrometallurgical high matte nickel and nickel iron in laterite nickel mine will be adjusted according to market demand and price changes. As soon as the incident was reported, it caused market panic and the price of nickel fell rapidly. The price of nickel fell by 1600 yuan / ton on March 2, 7350 yuan on March 4 and 9750 yuan on March 5. See figure 2-1.

In addition to Jinchuan Group, Xinxin Mining and Jean Nickel, the main domestic nickel production enterprises have certain nickel sulphide ore resources, other enterprises, such as Guangxi Yinyi, Tianjin Maolian, Yantai Kaishi, Huayou Cobalt, and so on, do not have mineral resources and mainly rely on intermediate products: mainly nickel cobalt hydroxide and high nickel matte (divided into two processes of high pressure acid leaching and RKEF). While Green Mei, Chizhou Xian, Guangzhou Guanghua Technology and other enterprises use secondary resources to produce battery-grade nickel sulfate.

Ratio of nickel sulphide ore to laterite nickel ore: according to data released by the International Nickel Research Group (INSG), the proportion of laterite nickel and nickel sulphide minerals in 2.3904 million tons of global mine nickel production in 2020 is about 65% and 35% respectively. In the past 30 years, few large-scale nickel sulphide ores have been found, except for a few nickel sulphide deposits such as Woxi Bay in Canada. the mining of nickel sulphide is mainly concentrated in the Tamil Peninsula and Kola Peninsula of Russia, Western Australia, Sudbury, Lake Thompson, Raglan and Voise Bay in Canada, Jinchuan in China and Rustenburg in South Africa. Laterite nickel mining is mainly concentrated in Indonesia, the Philippines, New Caledonia, Cuba, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea. With the development process of the main nickel sulphide ore, the nickel grade decreases and the cost increases with the deepening of mining depth, while the nickel laterite ore has been paid more and more attention because of its shallow burial, abundant resources, mature smelting process and low cost.

Traditional Trade trend of Nickel Intermediate products

Traditional trade:

(1) Circulation within the company. Glencore mines nickel sulphide in Sudbury and Raglan, Canada, smelts high matte nickel in Canada and transports it to the Kristiansen Nickel Refinery in Norway to produce electrolytic nickel. Sumitomo Metal has built two high-pressure acid leaching smelters for laterite nickel mines in Coral Bay and Taganito in the Philippines to produce high nickel matte (Ni+Co ≥ 65%) and transported to Japan's Xinjubin Nickel Refinery to produce electrolytic nickel and nickel sulfate. Canadian Sherit participates in (50% each of the Cuban nickel industry) the high-pressure acid leaching smelter of the Maua laterite nickel mine in Cuba, and transports high matte (Ni+Co ≥ 65%) to the Clive Nickel-Cobalt Refinery in Canada to produce nickel beans and cobalt beans. Ehrmann of France produces ferronickel and high matte in New Caledonia, which is shipped to Sandoville, France to produce electrolytic nickel and nickel chloride. Vale produces high matte nickel (Ni+Co ≥ 78 per cent) at the Soloako Nickel smelter in Indonesia and ships it to the Claydach Nickel Refinery in the UK to produce carbonyl ji nickel, or to four general nickel plants in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Matsuzaka, Korea, Guangshan and Dalian to produce general nickel.

(2) pure trade. China needs to import a large amount of nickel sulphide concentrate, low matte and high matte every year, mainly from Australia and northern Europe. There are also large imports of nickel hydroxide cobalt hydroxide produced by high-pressure acid leaching of laterite nickel ore, including the first Quantum Ravenssop, China Metallurgical Rimu, New Caledonia Goro Nickel Project (former Vale VNC). High nickel matte from southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana) is shipped to Norilsk Nickel, Finland's Hajafarta refinery to produce nickel beans, electrolytic nickel and nickel sulfate.

Present situation of producing Nickel Intermediate products from laterite Nickel Mine

(1) the Australian Ravensthorpe project, located in Western Australia, adopts atmospheric pressure + pressure acid leaching process (EHPAL), that is, limonite is leached under pressure, and residual ore is leached under atmospheric pressure-jarosite to remove iron, pulp pre-neutralization-CCD separation and washing-solution neutralization-MgO nickel precipitation process to produce mixed nickel and cobalt hydroxide products. The Ravens Thorpe nickel deposit has proven nickel reserves of 1.25 million tons with an average nickel grade of 0.62%. The design scale is nickel-cobalt hydroxide products with an annual output of 35000 tons of nickel and 1400 tons of cobalt. The project, built by BHP Billiton with an investment of US $3.2 billion, conducted a short-term trial operation in 2008 and was sold to Canada's first Quantum in February 2010 for US $340 million. It was put into production in November 2011, with a maximum of 27500 tons in 2013, shut down in October 2018 and restarted in March 2020. The product contains 48% cobalt nickel hydroxide and 4% cobalt. It is planned to produce 2.3-27000 tons of nickel in 2021, 250-30 million tons in 2022 and 2.7-32000 tons in 2023.

(2) the Ruimu (Ramu) project in Papua New Guinea was put into production in December 2012, with a total investment of US $2 billion (12.275 billion yuan). The design year deals with 3.21 million tons of laterite nickel ore and produces 32600 tons of cobalt and 3335 tons of cobalt. The main components of nickel raw materials are: Ni 1.13%; The mixed nickel-cobalt hydroxide intermediate product was produced by pressure acid leaching-pulp neutralization-CCD separation and washing-two-stage neutralization-two-stage nickel-cobalt hydroxide precipitation process. The project reached the design production capacity in 2017. The recovery rate of nickel is about 96% and that of cobalt is about 94%. The product contains 45% nickel and 4% cobalt, mainly supplying Caofeidian new energy base of China Metallurgical Co., Ltd., and putting it into the Chinese market to produce nickel sulfate and electrolytic nickel.

(3) Ningbo Liqin Mining / Khalida Indonesia Liqin OBI Nickel-Cobalt Project, using pressure acid leaching (HPAL) nickel-cobalt smelting technology to produce nickel-cobalt intermediate products, with an annual production capacity of about 240000 tons of nickel-cobalt intermediate products, the products will be mainly used in new energy automotive battery cathode materials, and trial production will begin in March 2021.

(4) New Caledonia Goro project (former VNC project) was put into production in August 2010, with an investment of US $6 billion and a production capacity of 57000 t, including 42000 t of sintered nickel oxide and 15000 t of nickel hydroxide, Ni40%,Co2%. The project includes a laterite nickel mine and a treatment plant, dealing with raw materials: Ni 1.6% recorder Co 0.16% Permie mg 2.0%. Nickel and cobalt leaching rate: 95%, annual feed rate of autoclave 400Mt/a. The project adopts the process of "HPAL-CCD washing-neutralization-copper removal-zinc removal-extraction-high temperature hydrolysis" to produce nickel oxide, nickel cobalt hydroxide and cobalt carbonate products, including three series of high pressure acid leaching system. At present, all the products are going to be changed to nickel and cobalt hydroxide. The production of nickel and cobalt hydroxide by high pressure acid leaching will be partially suspended in 2020. Sumitomo Metals (7.6%) and Mitsui products (6.9%) withdrew in 2016. On March 31, 2021, Vale paid US $600m to sell the Goro project. the latest shares make up: Prony Resources New Caledonian consortium (mainly New Caledonia and local governments) with 51 per cent, Trafigura 19 per cent, and the other 30 per cent indirectly held by Agio Global, an international investment agency, and plans to transform from 2022 to 2025. All products are nickel and cobalt hydroxide.

Other projects under construction and proposed for high-pressure acid leaching of laterite nickel ore to produce cobalt hydroxide include: Huayue Nickel-Cobalt / Huayou Cobalt, Qingchuang International, Woyuan Holdings, etc., 60,000 tons, of which 30,000 tons are expected to be put into production in 2022; Qingbangmei New Energy / Qingshan, Greenmei, Bangpu cycle, 50,000 tons, expected to be put into production in 2022; Castle Peak, Zhenshi Weidabe wet project, 30,000 tons, expected to be put into production in 2023; Indonesia's PT CNI high-pressure acid leaching project, 40, 000 tons, is scheduled to be put into production in 2023; BASF and Eherman Vedabe high-pressure acid leaching project, 42000 tons, is expected after 2025.

The proposed projects to produce cobalt hydroxide from laterite nickel ore by high-pressure acid leaching are: Sumitomo and Vale Sulawesi 40,000 tons, which are expected to be after 2025.

The above projects are aimed at battery-grade nickel sulfate.

Production of nickel and cobalt sulfide by high pressure acid leaching of laterite nickel ore:

(1) the Cuban Maoa Nickel Plant, as the first plant in the world to use HPAL technology to treat laterite nickel ore, was founded in 1957 and put into operation in 1959. The plant adopts the pressurized sulfuric acid leaching process of nickel oxide ore, and the raw material is nickel oxide cobalt deposit in Maoa mining area. Among them, the content of magnesium oxide is lower and the content of cobalt is higher. The second phase expansion of the factory began in 2007, and the first phase technology is still used. after the expansion, the total production capacity can reach 35000 t / a nickel metal. In the whole smelting process, the total recovery of nickel is about 95%. Processing raw materials: Ni 1.38% Magi Co 0.13% Magi mg 1.0% M Al 5.0% Fe 46%.

(2) the Mulin Mulin nickel laterite project in Australia was put into production in 2000, using Sherit process, that is, high pressure acid leaching-sulphide precipitation-hydrogen reduction. Mulin Mulin Mine has a total ore reserve of 117.4 million t and an average grade of Ni 1.02%. Mulin Mulin uses hydrogen reduction to produce 40000t/a nickel, all of which meet the LME standard.

(3) the Ambatovie (Ambatovy) project in Madagascar was put into production in May 2012, with a total investment of US $6.3 billion and a designed annual production capacity of 60, 000 tons of nickel and 5600 tons of cobalt. The main components of the raw materials are as follows: Ni 1.29% Magneto Co 0.11% Magnemg 1.03% Magneto Al 1.81%; using pressure acid leaching-pulp neutralization-CCD separation washing-sulfur hua hydrogen precipitation impurity removal-solution neutralization-vulcanization precipitation-oxygen pressure leaching-extraction-hydrogen reduction process. Five sets of pressurized acid leaching equipment are used in the project. It will be closed in March 2020 and production is planned to resume in the second quarter of 2021. The current share composition: Sumitomo metal 54%, Korea resources 46%.

(4) the Coral Bay (Coral Bay) Nickel Project in the Philippines was put into operation in 2005 with an investment of US $600 million to produce nickel-cobalt mixed sulfides from low-grade laterite and limonite using high-pressure acid leaching technology. (MS), raw material is the waste ore heap of Riotuba nickel ore, the average grade of nickel is 1.6%, and the average grade of cobalt is 0.09%. The design production capacity of nickel is 21000 tons per year (two sets of high-pressure acid leaching units), the design production capacity of cobalt is 1500t, and the product is nickel-cobalt mixed sulfides with Ni+Co ≥ 60%. Formal industrial production began in April 2005. The intermediate products or mixed sulfides of nickel and cobalt are transported to the Niobama (Nihama) refinery of Sumitomo Metal Mining in Japan, and the matured matte chloride leaching electrodeposition (MCLE) technology is used to further refine nickel and cobalt. Project shareholding: 54% of Sumitomo Metals, 18% of Mitsui products, 18% of Shuangri Group, 10% of Asian Nickel. The actual production of nickel is 19100 tons in 2020.

(5) the Taganito (Taganito) nickel project was put into production in September 2013, with a total of three high-pressure acid leaching plants with a designed annual output of 33000 tons of nickel and 2600 tons of cobalt. Project shareholding: Sumitomo Metals 62.5%, Mitsui products 15%, Asian Nickel 22.54%. 30600 tons of nickel will be produced in 2020.

Production of high matte nickel by RKEF process from laterite nickel ore:

(1) the French Ehrmann Group produces mainly high nickel iron in the SLN nickel smelter in New Caledonia. In 1972, it began to produce high nickel in small quantities (about 10,000 tons of nickel). In 1957, the French Elkem company developed the RKEF process, also known as the Elkem process. High matte nickel is supplied to the Sandoville Nickel Refinery in France to produce electrolytic nickel and nickel chloride.

(2) High matte nickel (Ni+Co ≥ 78%) with an annual production capacity of 80,000 tons of nickel from Vale's Soloako Nickel smelter in Indonesia is shipped to the Claydachi Nickel Refinery in the United Kingdom to produce carbonyl ji nickel, or to four general nickel plants in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Matsuzaka, Korea, Guangshan and Dalian to produce general nickel. Before Sumitomo Metals was put into production in Coral Bay and Taganito, it mainly used high matte nickel from Soloako as raw material.

(3) the 34000-ton high nickel matte project in Youshan Nickel, Weidabe Industrial Park, Indonesia, a joint venture between Shengtun Mining and Huayou Cobalt, was put into production in December 2020 and currently produces Ferro-nickel.

(4) Castle Peak holding Industries has invested US $850 million to build a 30, 000-ton high nickel matte project in the Qingshan Industrial Park in Indonesia, with 45000 tons under construction, totaling 75000 tons, mainly supplying Huayou Cobalt and Zhongwei shares.

Proposed high matte project: Huake Nickel (70% owned by Huayou Cobalt) plans to build a 45000 ton high matte project in Indonesia's Vedabe Industrial Park with a total investment of US $516 million and a construction period of two years.

Investment opportunities for laterite nickel ore nickel intermediate products smelting projects:

1. Nickel laterite is rich in resources and easy to exploit.

The resources of nickel sulphide ore in the world are gradually reduced, the difficulty of mining increases, the taste decreases, and the cost increases. Laterite nickel ore is rich in resources, easy to exploit and low cost. in recent years, laterite nickel ore accounts for more than 60% of nickel raw materials. At present, overseas high-quality laterite nickel resources have been monopolized by international mining companies. Chinese enterprises started relatively late to obtain overseas nickel resources, and the main products obtained are low-grade laterite nickel deposits in Southeast Asia, with a small number of resources and a small scale of ore deposits. the regional environment and infrastructure conditions are poor, the development is difficult and the cost is high.

China is short of nickel mineral resources. The output in 2020 is only about 100000 tons, while the consumption of nickel is 1.41 million tons. China's raw materials mainly rely on imports, affected by international geopolitics and other factors, especially the changes in mining policies of mining countries, unstable supply of raw materials, strong domestic enterprises have gone out one after another to buy or participate in nickel mines abroad.

2. The smelting technology of laterite nickel ore is becoming more and more mature, and the output of nickel intermediate products has increased sharply.

Nickel laterite can use pyrolysis RKEF process to produce high matte (Ni+Co ≥ 78%), or high pressure acid leaching or reduction roasting-ammonia leaching process to produce nickel cobalt hydroxide (Ni+Co ≥ 45%) or nickel cobalt sulfide (Ni+Co ≥ 60%). All three products can be used to produce nickel-cobalt metal and salt products.

Relatively speaking, the RKEF process has the advantages of low investment, simple process, high yield, low risk, and the treatment of three wastes is more economical, so it is worth popularizing.

Investment risk of laterite nickel ore wet smelting project:

1. The project has a large investment and a long production period.

At present, the wet smelting project of laterite nickel ore (high-pressure acid leaching) has the advantages of large investment, long production period and high operation risk. Vale VNC has a designed annual production capacity of 57000 tons, which was put into production in August 2010, with a maximum annual output of 40800 tons in 2018. It has been sold by the end of 2020, and the new owner plans to change it all to nickel and cobalt hydroxide. The Malagasy Ambatovie Nickel-Cobalt Project, which has an annual production capacity of 60, 000 tons, was put into production in May 2012, with a maximum of 48000 tons in 2015, which has not yet reached production capacity.

Due to the large investment, the depreciation cost converted to tons of nickel is high.

2. The production process is complex and the pressure of environmental protection is high.

As the core process is high temperature, high pressure, acidic medium, high requirements for equipment, pipeline and process control, great harm, serious scaling in reaction kettle and pipeline, it is necessary to stop production and clean up regularly.

There are often acid leaks and events that affect the environment.

Development status of Cobalt Industry in the World

Cobalt (Co), silver-white non-ferrous metal, atomic number 27, atomic weight 58.93, closely packed hexagonal crystal, common valence is + 2, + 3. Cobalt is hard and brittle and has ferromagnetism, which disappears when heated to 1150 ℃. Cobalt is an important raw material for the production of heat-resistant alloys, cemented carbide, anticorrosive alloys, magnetic alloys and various cobalt salts.

Production and Trade of Cobalt Intermediate products in the World

Major cobalt producers:

Glencore:

According to the 2016 Glencore annual report, the metal volume of its Mutanda, Katanga, Mopani, Murrin Murrin and INO cobalt mining projects is 1.1448 million tons, 650000 tons, 113600 tons, 142700 tons and 9600 tons respectively, and Glencore's total cobalt reserves are 206.07 million tons. The main cobalt refining products are Mulin Mulin cobalt beans, Kristiansen in Norway and cobalt electrolysis in Kokola, Finland.

Luoyang Molybdenum Industry:

On May 9, 2016, Luoyang Molybdenum acquired a 56% stake in Freeport Group's Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine (hereinafter referred to as "Tenke Copper-Cobalt Mine") in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for US $2.65 billion. In September 2019, 24 per cent of the Tenke copper and cobalt project was purchased for $1.136 billion, and the stake was increased to 80 per cent. At present, Tenke Fungurume Copper-Cobalt Mine, located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is one of the largest and highest-grade copper-cobalt mineral resources in the world, with copper reserves of 16.85 million tons and cobalt reserves of 1.83 million tons. Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt ore cobalt intermediate product cobalt hydroxide has an annual production capacity of 16000 tons of cobalt. Luoyang Molybdenum Industry acquired 95% interest in Kisanfu copper-cobalt mine in December 2020. The estimated amount of Kisanfu copper-cobalt ore resources is: the total resources are about 365 million tons of ore, the average grade of copper is about 1.72%, the average grade of copper metal is about 6.28 million tons, and the average grade of cobalt is about 0.85%. The amount of cobalt metal is about 3.1 million tons.

(GCM):, National Mining Corporation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Headquartered in Lubumbashi, the company has an original copper and cobalt mining right of 18900 km ~ 2, with copper and cobalt resources of 56 million tons and 4 million tons respectively.

Eurasian Resources:

Eurasian Resources is headquartered in Luxembourg, with the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan as its main shareholder, with a 40 per cent stake. Its main assets are concentrated in Kazakhstan, Africa and Brazil. Eurasian Resources is located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Metalkol RTR Copper and Cobalt Project (China Ruilin Design, China Color General contract), the first phase of the project with an annual output of 77000 tons of electrolytic copper and 14000 tons of cobalt will be put into production in April 2019, and the second phase of the project with an annual output of 35000 tons of copper and 6000 tons of cobalt will be put into production in April 2020. The output of copper in the first and second phase can reach 105000 tons, and the annual output of cobalt reaches 20, 000 tons (cobalt hydroxide of Co35%). Most of these copper and cobalt mines will be sold to the Chinese market for battery manufacturing.

Zijin Mining:

Zijin Mining holds 13.88% of Ivanhoe, Zijin Mining and Ivanhoe each own 49.5% of Camoa Holdings Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Camoa Holdings"). Camoa holding holds 80% of Camoa Copper Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Camoa Copper"), and Camoa Copper owns 100% of the Camoa-Kakoula copper project. According to the copper reserves of the Kamoa-Kakoula copper mine announced on January 30, 2020, the copper resources of the control grade of the Kamoa-Kakoula copper mine are 38 million tons (1.387 billion tons @ Cu2.74%), and the inference grade copper resources are 5.69 million tons (339 million tons @ Cu1.68%). The total amount of copper resources is 43.69 million tons. Mine construction began at the beginning of 2019, with a concentrator handling 6 million tons of ore per year in two phases. At present, Camoa-Kakoula has surpassed Glass Bay (Grasberg), of Indonesia to successfully become the world's fourth largest copper mine after Chile's (Escondida), Australia's Olympic Dam (Olympia Dam), and Chile's Koyahuasi (Collahuasi) (the latest resources are 42.49 million tons in April 2021, with an average copper grade of 2.56%). In December 2018, the second phase of the copper and cobalt recovery project of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Musonoi Company, owned by Zijin Mining, completed the trial production. According to the plan, after the project reaches the standard, the company's annual production capacity will reach 100000 tons of copper and 3000 tons of cobalt.

Zambia United Copper Co., Ltd. (ZCCM):

Its Qianbixi Copper Mine, Enchangjia Copper Mine and Enkana Copper Mine have associated cobalt reserves of 350000 tons, with an annual output of 4000 tons of electrolytic cobalt (sheets).

China Railway Resources Group

China Iron Resources Huagang Mining Congo (Gold) SICOMINES Copper Mine project copper metal resources 8.69 million tons, copper grade 3.47%, cobalt metal resources 300000 tons, cobalt grade 0.215%; green sand copper and cobalt ore copper resources 768000 tons, cobalt resources 56900 tons. The first phase of the project is designed to handle 4.55 million tons of ore and produce 125000 tons of metal copper annually. Construction began in April 2013 and was put into production on November 6, 2015. the second phase of the project is expected to be put into production in the second half of 2021, with a total annual production of 250000 tons of copper and 8000 tons of cobalt.

Wanbao Mining Co., Ltd.

The construction of the Camoya Kamoya copper-cobalt mine project began in May 2015. the products of the project are copper-cobalt sulphide concentrate and copper-cobalt oxide concentrate. In June 2016, the 3000 t / d concentrator of the first phase of the project began trial production. On October 27, 2016, Wanbao Mineral Comica Mining Co., Ltd. held the first phase of the Camoya project was completed and put into production. On September 13, 2020, the Pombi Copper and Cobalt Mine Project of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Lamica Co., Ltd. was put into production.

China Nonferrous Group

The Dizwa Copper and Cobalt Mine Project of China Color Group is designed to mine 4.5 million tons per year and produce 80,000 tons of cathode copper and cobalt hydroxide metal cobalt 9300 per year.

Huayou cobalt industry

In 2003, Huayou Cobalt Industry built a 37000-ton pyrometallurgical copper smelting project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Since 2006, it has arranged raw material procurement outlets in the DRC, and acquired a number of cobalt and copper mining rights in 2008, choosing the opportunity to expand into the upstream mining field. In 2015, Congo Oriental International Mining Co., Ltd. (CDM), a subsidiary of Huayou Cobalt, signed a "contract for the transfer of all mining rights related to PE527 mining rights" with the Congolese national mining company GECAMINES. The resource reserves of PE527 mining rights are: 368500 tons of copper and 55400 tons of cobalt. The MIKAS upgrading project was completed at the end of 2017, with an annual output of 10, 000 tons of copper and 4000 tons of crude cobalt hydroxide.