5 Largest Cobalt Mining Companies and Their Mines in the World

1. Norilsk Nickel (ME:GMKN)

Average Annual Revenue: $400 billion 

Norilsk Nickel, also known as Nornickel, is a leading force in Russia’s metals and mining industry. It is renowned as the largest producer of high-grade nickel and palladium and is also one of the largest producers of platinum and copper. The company’s extensive product portfolio includes cobalt, rhodium, silver, gold, and other precious metals. Located in the Russian High Arctic, the Norilsk mining center encompasses a full production cycle from ore mining and concentration to refining. This center operates the Severny copper mine in Russia, where cobalt is a significant by-product of copper production. In 2022, the Norilsk Division produced a total of 18.4 million tons of ore.

Norilsk Nickel’s Siberian operations include two ore concentrators capable of treating 11Mt/y of ore and smelters with a combined capacity of 350,000t of copper and 160,000t of nickel. The company has invested significantly in its Kola plant, including constructing a facility for producing cobalt electrolytes, emphasizing its commitment to cobalt production. Nickel cathode production at Norilsk’s Tankhouse 1 and Tankhouse 2 results in primary cobalt cake, which is used in the cobalt section to produce saleable cobalt concentrate and cobalt cathodes. This underlines Norilsk Nickel’s key role in the cobalt industry.

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