How much cobalt is mined in the world. More than two-thirds comes from one country.
The ranking uses the latest available value for each country. For all of them that is 2024.
Top-20 · tonnes
The scale does not start at zero — the values lie in a narrow range, and starting from zero the bars would be indistinguishable. The axis ticks are labeled.
| # | Year | Subregion | World rank | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Democratic Republic of the Congo
|
200,779 | 2024 | 1 | |
| 2 |
Russia
|
8,700 | 2024 | 2 | |
| 3 |
Canada
|
4,500 | 2024 | 3 | |
| 4 |
Philippines
|
4,123 | 2024 | 4 | |
| 5 |
Cuba
|
3,609 | 2024 | 5 | |
| 6 |
Australia
|
3,600 | 2024 | 6 | |
| 7 |
Papua New Guinea
|
2,800 | 2024 | 7 | |
| 8 |
Madagascar
|
2,600 | 2024 | 8 | |
| 9 |
New Caledonia
|
1,770 | 2024 | 9 | |
| 10 |
China
|
1,750 | 2024 | 10 | |
| 11 |
Morocco
|
1,690 | 2024 | 11 | |
| 12 |
South Africa
|
556 | 2024 | 12 | |
| 13 |
Zambia
|
252 | 2024 | 13 |
Cobalt production measured as contained metal, from U.S. Geological Survey data. Cobalt is needed for the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries, and its production is concentrated more tightly than that of any other important metal: more than two-thirds of the world total comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is because of that concentration that battery makers have spent recent years looking for chemistries with a smaller share of cobalt, or none at all.
Important: Cobalt is almost always mined as a by-product — together with copper or nickel — so its volume depends on the market for the main metal and not only on demand for cobalt itself.
How much lithium is mined in the world. Eight countries account for all of the output.
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