Cobalt industry develops a guideline to increase transparency across value chain
The Cobalt Institute and its members developed an industry best practice guideline on the sampling, weighing, and analysis of semi-refined cobalt hydroxides. The guideline will promote the standardization of sampling and weighing methodologies and contribute to increasing the transparency of cobalt markets and across the entire value chain.
Dr Adam McCarthy, President of the Cobalt Institute, said: “Aligning industry measurements of cobalt products is key to ensuring accurate market data. The guideline improves knowledge on cobalt volumes coming from large-scale mining for the benefit of cobalt producers, consumers, recyclers and traders.”
Cobalt hydroxide is produced from mining operations and used in the preparation of other cobalt compounds, that are used in battery electrodes manufacturing and as catalysts. Cobalt hydroxide products are prone to segregation during shipping and storage, and have a strong tendency to absorb moisture from the air. It is therefore important to accurately measure the quality of the product at an early stage.
The Cobalt Institute worked with its members to design a guideline that promotes a standardized weighing and sampling methodology; aims at minimizing sampling error; increasing the accuracy and precision of chemical analyses; and improving the quality and reliability of cobalt hydroxide products.
The Cobalt Institute will collect feedback from the cobalt industry actors to improve the guideline further.
