GRAPH: What global copper mining’s top tier could look like
The Rio Tinto-Glencore merger appears stalled and a BHP-Anglo American tie-up is indefinitely postponed, but copper mining is already top heavy.
Cobalt prices have plummeted to their lowest level since 2016, as record-high production continues to weigh on the battery material’s value.
China’s CMOC Group, the world’s largest cobalt miner, set a new production record last year and plans to maintain similar output levels through 2025, driven by ramped-up operations at two African mines.
The company recently provided a 2025 output guidance of 100,000-120,000 tonnes on its WeChat account, after producing 114,165 tonnes in 2024. Notably, CMOC surpassed its 2024 full-year production forecast within the first nine months of the year.
As of January 23, 2025, spot cobalt was trading at $11.02 per pound.
Cobalt is often extracted as a byproduct from digging up copper, which CMOC is bullish on over the longer term. For the red metal, the company is targeting production of between 600,000-660,000 tonnes in 2025, compared with 650,000 tonnes last year.
(With files from Bloomberg)
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