Production of cobalt from copper-cobalt ores on the African Copperbelt – An overview

Abstract The development of renewable energy sources, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries has increased the demand for cobalt from the African Copperbelt that traverses the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia. This increased demand has enabled the modernization of the process technology used across the region, resulting in the move from direct electrowinning of copper to solvent extraction-electrowinning. With this change has come a variety of technical challenges in the recovery of cobalt from these sources. The expansion markets for cobalt has resulted in a switch in the form of cobalt produced at the mine site, from metal cathode to cobalt hydroxide. In this paper, we provide an overview the processes currently used to produce cobalt from these copper-cobalt ores. The challenges for the technology in the context of the evolving markets for cobalt are highlighted.