There’s Only One Reason That Explains Why Chinese Companies Are Pumping Out so Much Cobalt: Politics

File image of raw cobalt powder after a first transformation at a plant in the DR Congo before being exported, mainly to China, to be refined. Lucien KAHOZI / AFP

Chinese mining giant CMOC Group, or China Molybdenum, announced this week that it reached its full-year cobalt production target three months ahead of schedule. This would probably have been welcomed as good news in an earlier era. But in today’s market, when the price of the blue metal is at an eight-year low, CMOC’s strategy to surge output is financially baffling.

The company said in its third-quarter earnings report that it produced 84,722 tons of cobalt from its African operations through September 2024, up 127% from the same period last year and well above the 60,000-70,000 ton guidance it previously forecasted for the entire year.

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by Eric Olander

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