Towards a Circular Value Chain of Cobalt

Cobalt is an essential material for the global economy. The demand for cobalt is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.

Implementing the principles of a circular economy can help to ensure the transition is sustainable and creates value for all stakeholders involved in the cobalt value chain.

Circular Economy Solutions

Extraction – regenerating natural systems via zero waste cobalt mining 

  • Smart and electrified cobalt mining
  • CO2 sequestration via mine tailings
  • Remining – recovery of metal via the remediation of mining waste sites
  • Remediating mine sites with nature-based solutions
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Use – maximising resource value by extending the life of cobalt products

  • Life extension by design in NMC batteries
  • Battery Repurposing
  • Battery Remanufacturing
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Recycling – designing out waste and pollution through integrated battery design and recycling

  • Use of recycled cobalt in battery design
  • Collection, sorting, and recycling optimisation
  • Battery as a service and other battery return schemes
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Circular Best Practices

Design and implement new policies

  • Updating national mining codes and assaying requirements can help promote best practices in mine waste valorisation.
  • Stronger regulations on safe and sustainable battery re-use, as well as consumer protection laws and product standards, can help promote the eco-design of durable and sustainable cobalt-containing products.
  • International collaboration between cobalt production and cobalt consuming countries will be essential to ensure circularity at each stage in the value chain, in line within international biodiversity and climate goals.

Eliminate waste at extraction and end-of-life

The following are widely recognised as being amongst the key approaches companies in the cobalt industry are using to further circularity:

  • Tackling feedstock complexity with improved ore and battery sorting.
  • Striving to recover all by-product materials at the mine and recycling plant.
  • Improving cobalt recovery from mine and battery waste with respect for the rights of workers in both the formal and informal economy.
  • Improving collection schemes of e-waste to capture significant value.

Maximise the value of cobalt use

The designing of cobalt products that are durable, incorporate trade-offs between easy dismantling and battery performance, and that can adapt to a rapidly evolving growing market for battery repurposing, will help maximise the value of cobalt, and reduce environmental pressures.

Explore new business models

  • Some businesses are increasingly seeing tailings not as a cost, but rather as a by-product capable of generating value.
  • Similarly, battery-rental schemes may aid in creating shared value for OEMs and consumers, while also enabling repurposing and recycling.
  • Cobalt refiners can also drive circularity by transitioning from primary to secondary cobalt feedstocks.

Use data to unlock circular opportunities

  • The gathering and sharing of open-source data on tailings composition and suitability for reprocessing or mineral carbonation is an easy and valuable way for companies to advance circularity and capture new value at the mine-site.
  • Traceability across primary and secondary cobalt supply chains, along with information about battery health, can also promote circularity.

Extraction – Regenerating Natural Systems via Zero Waste Cobalt Mining

The clean energy transition cannot rely solely on recycled materials, and primary metals like cobalt will be necessary for renewable energy generation and storage. Primary cobalt will need to make up most of the supply for battery storage until around 2040 when devices meet their end of life and become recyclable. Given this pressing need for primary cobalt, the mining industry must play its part in building out a circular cobalt value chain.

A number of forward-thinking approaches exist to make cobalt extraction more circular: smart and electrified cobalt mining; CO2 sequestration via mine tailings; remining; and remediating mine sites with nature-based solutions - allow the cobalt mining industry to improve cobalt recovery and reduce its environmental impact, while also creating shared value for local communities and ASM miners. Ideally, all four solutions could help transform cobalt extraction to a zero-waste mining industry that can help regenerate natural systems. While all four solutions in this axis improve the environmental performance of cobalt mines, remediating cobalt mines with nature-based solutions (NbS) has the greatest potential of social and environmental benefits.

Use – Maximising Resource Value by Extending the Life of Cobalt Products

Cobalt helps in extending the lifecycle of NMC batteries thanks to its exceptional thermal stability, and in alloys cobalt provides corrosion resistance and strength at high temperature, again extending design life. However, the resource is vulnerable to supply risks and high price volatility. In the future, cobalt demand is expected to rise due to the deployment of electric vehicles batteries, leading car manufacturers and battery producers to adopt new strategies to mitigate these risks, while generating environmental and social benefits.

Companies using products containing cobalt employ a variety of innovative solutions to extend their lives: battery life extension by design; battery repurposing; and battery remanufacturing. All these help alleviate tensions on cobalt production, and can considerably reduce environmental pressures, such as greenhouse gas emission and the pollution of land, soil, and water bodies. Battery life extension by design appears as the most impactful and feasible solution.

Recycling – Designing out Waste and Pollution through Integrated Battery Design and Recycling

The increasing amount of retired EVs and electronics has led to a corresponding rise in the number of end-of-life batteries. This, in turn, has become a significant environmental concern as the disposal of these batteries and e-waste can cause soil contamination and water pollution.

However, batteries and electronic waste can provide a valuable secondary resource as they contain elements and materials crucial for the manufacturing of EV batteries. Recycling these materials can potentially limit the reliance on imports from foreign primary markets, reduce the need for new conventional mines or increased mining intensity, and mitigate the negative environmental impacts associated with the disposal of end-of-life batteries.

The key innovations regarding design and recycling – use of recycled cobalt in battery design; collection, sorting, and recycling optimisation; and battery as a service and other battery return schemes – can integrate circularity into the last stage of the cobalt value chain through collection and recycling of e-waste and EV batteries. While all solutions reduce environmental and social pressures related to e-waste and battery disposal, collection, sorting and recycling optimisation appears to be the most feasible and impactful solution.