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General comment Cobalt ore is mined from copper-cobalt deposits in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (~0.47% Co), with data from the Tenke Fungurume, Mutanda, and Kamoto mines. After crushing and flotation, the ore undergoes wet processing, including sulfidation roasting or pressure oxidation, leaching, solvent extraction, and precipitation to produce crude cobalt hydroxide (35% Co). The crude cobalt hydroxide is transported to China for further refining into cobalt sulfate. Through acidification, precipitation, extraction, evaporation, crystallization, filtration, and drying, battery-grade CoSO4 crystals and small amounts of crude manganese hydroxide are produced. This data is from Huayou Cobalt's Tongxiang plant in China. Waste treatment is estimated based on ore quantity and water usage. |
