While cobalt metal prices are cited by the London Metal Exchange, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence receives many queries about cobalt chemicals used in lithium ion battery cathodes.

With electric vehicle furore reaching a new peak on the news that VW Group wants to invest $60bn on lithium ion battery manufacturing capacity and raw materials, inbound questions to the Benchmark Minerals team on cobalt’s pricing mechanisms have surged.

Below are two charts from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

The first chart outlines the relationship between cobalt metal and cobalt sulphate/sulfate, the base chemical that is converted into an oxide form (tricobalt tetraoxide and cobalt hydroxide) for lithium ion battery cathode consumption.

The second chart outlines the complexity of the cobalt supply chain from mining to metal refining and on to chemical refining and cathode consumption in battery cells.

These slides featured in a presentation The cobalt supply chain and benchmarking cobalt chemical prices on the Benchmark World Tour 2017 in Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney in September.

For more information on cobalt chemical pricing, subscribe to Benchmark’s Cobalt Price Assessment service – [email protected].

These charts are free to be quoted and republished providing a full citation to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence together with a link or hyperlink to www.benchmarkminerals.com

Price chart: LME cobalt metal versus Benchmark Minerals cobalt sulphate 

Download original file Cobalt-Metal-v-Cobalt-Chemical-Benchmark-Mineral-Intelligence.png (78 downloads) . 

Chart: The cobalt supply chain, from mine to lithium ion battery

Download original file Cobalt-Supply-Chain-from-mine-to-lithium-ion-battery-Benchmark-Mineral-Intelligence.png (142 downloads)