IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/minecn/v37y2024i2d10.1007_s13563-023-00391-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cobalt: corporate concentration 1975–2018

Author

Listed:
  • Magnus Ericsson

    (Luleå University of Technology)

  • Anton Löf

    (RMG Consulting)

  • Olof Löf

    (RMG Consulting)

  • Daniel B. Müller

    (Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology)

Abstract

The world’s dependency on cobalt mines in Congo and cobalt refineries in China is seen as serious security issues with potentially dangerous implications for the energy transition. However, Chinese refineries have a similar supply security issue as most of its cobalt concentrates are imported. Most supply security studies take a country perspective on market concentration and supply risks. However, control of the mines and refineries lies with the producing companies, not the governments of the countries where they are located. This paper analyses the corporate structure of the cobalt industry at the mine and the refinery stages over a longer time period to establish changes in the level of corporate concentration and to put the situation in 2018 in perspective. The level of corporate concentration at the mine stage is low and does not raise concerns for market failures or a lack of competitiveness. Corporate concentration of refined cobalt depends on the Chinese government’s influence over Chinese production: if the state control over individual refineries is assumed to be strong, the corporate concentration is high. Mine stage supply security could be strengthened by improving the general political stability in the DRC to make the country more attractive for investors other than the present ones. Increased local beneficiation would strongly benefit Congo and reduce China’s influence. This is a long and complicated process and its success is not at all certain. At the refinery stage, the solution is much easier: reliability of supply could be improved by constructing refineries in countries outside China.

Suggested Citation

  • Magnus Ericsson & Anton Löf & Olof Löf & Daniel B. Müller, 2024. "Cobalt: corporate concentration 1975–2018," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 37(2), pages 297-311, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:minecn:v:37:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s13563-023-00391-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s13563-023-00391-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13563-023-00391-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13563-023-00391-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nayantara D Hensel, 2011. "Economic Challenges in the Clean Energy Supply Chain: The Market for Rare Earth Minerals and Other Critical Inputs," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 46(3), pages 171-184, September.
    2. Gulley, Andrew L. & McCullough, Erin A. & Shedd, Kim B., 2019. "China's domestic and foreign influence in the global cobalt supply chain," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 317-323.
    3. Rachidi, Ntebatše R. & Nwaila, Glen T. & Zhang, Steven E. & Bourdeau, Julie E. & Ghorbani, Yousef, 2021. "Assessing cobalt supply sustainability through production forecasting and implications for green energy policies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    4. Magnus Ericsson & Olof Löf & Anton Löf, 2020. "Chinese control over African and global mining—past, present and future," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 33(1), pages 153-181, July.
    5. Gary A. Campbell, 2020. "The cobalt market revisited," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 33(1), pages 21-28, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liu, Wei & Li, Xin & Liu, Chunyan & Wang, Minxi & Liu, Litao, 2023. "Resilience assessment of the cobalt supply chain in China under the impact of electric vehicles and geopolitical supply risks," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    2. Seck, Gondia Sokhna & Hache, Emmanuel & Barnet, Charlène, 2022. "Potential bottleneck in the energy transition: The case of cobalt in an accelerating electro-mobility world," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Shi, Qing & Sun, Xiaoqi & Xu, Man & Wang, Mengjiao, 2022. "The multiplex network structure of global cobalt industry chain," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Rachidi, Ntebatše R. & Nwaila, Glen T. & Zhang, Steven E. & Bourdeau, Julie E. & Ghorbani, Yousef, 2021. "Assessing cobalt supply sustainability through production forecasting and implications for green energy policies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Becker, Jonathon M., 2021. "General equilibrium impacts on the U.S. economy of a disruption to Chinese cobalt supply," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    6. Yang, Jingluan & Chen, Wei, 2023. "Unravelling the landscape of global cobalt trade: Patterns, robustness, and supply chain security," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    7. Yu, Zhen & Wang, Yilan & Ma, Xiaoqian & Shuai, Chuanmin & Zhao, Yujia, 2023. "How critical mineral supply security affects China NEVs industry? Based on a prediction for chromium and cobalt in 2030," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    8. Dou Shiquan & Xu Deyi, 2023. "The security of critical mineral supply chains," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 36(3), pages 401-412, September.
    9. Ding, Qian & Huang, Jianbai & Chen, Jinyu & Luo, Xianfeng, 2024. "Climate warming, renewable energy consumption and rare earth market: Evidence from the United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    10. Nwaila, Glen T. & Frimmel, Hartwig E. & Zhang, Steven E. & Bourdeau, Julie E. & Tolmay, Leon C.K. & Durrheim, Raymond J. & Ghorbani, Yousef, 2022. "The minerals industry in the era of digital transition: An energy-efficient and environmentally conscious approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Yu, Yu & Ma, Daipeng & Zhu, Weiwei, 2023. "Resilience assessment of international cobalt trade network," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    12. Depraiter, Lisa & Goutte, Stephane, 2023. "The role and challenges of rare earths in the energy transition," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    13. Mattia Gianvincenzi & Marco Marconi & Enrico Maria Mosconi & Claudio Favi & Francesco Tola, 2024. "Systematic Review of Battery Life Cycle Management: A Framework for European Regulation Compliance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-31, November.
    14. Rajkumar, G. & Saravanan, M. & Marimuthu, P., 2023. "Developing a numerical model to analyze the production process of PMEDM," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    15. Claudio-Quiroga, Gloria & Gil-Alana, Luis A. & Maiza-Larrarte, Andoni, 2023. "Mineral prices persistence and the development of a new energy vehicle industry in China: A fractional integration approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    16. Xia, Qifan & Du, Debin & Yu, Zihao & Li, Xiya & Zhang, Qiang, 2024. "Coins have both sides: Revealing the structure and pattern of global interdependence network for five critical metals," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    17. Yang, Shubo & Jahanger, Atif & Balsalobre-Lorente, Daniel, 2024. "Sustainable resource management in China's energy mining sector: A synthesis of development and conservation in the FinTech era," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    18. Daniele Stampatori & Pier Paolo Raimondi & Michel Noussan, 2020. "Li-Ion Batteries: A Review of a Key Technology for Transport Decarbonization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-23, May.
    19. Ghosh, Indranil & Jana, Rabin K., 2024. "Clean energy stock price forecasting and response to macroeconomic variables: A novel framework using Facebook's Prophet, NeuralProphet and explainable AI," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    20. Gao, Wang & Wei, Jiajia & Zhang, Hongwei & Zhang, Haizhen, 2024. "Does climate policy uncertainty exacerbate extreme risk spillovers between green economy and energy metals?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:minecn:v:37:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s13563-023-00391-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.