The transition metal underpinning lithium-ion batteries, with the Democratic Republic of Congo supplying roughly 76% of world mine output and wielding OPEC-style export quotas since late 2025.
China's CMOC Group supplies roughly one-third of global cobalt from its DRC mines, making it the dominant actor in battery-metal supply chains and a flashpoint in US-China resource competition.
詳細ファイル ›The most-used industrial metal after steel, copper underpins every electric grid, EV, and clean-energy system, making Chile, the DRC, and Peru the indispensable suppliers to a decarbonising world.
Producers and processors: the fifteen miners and refiners who set the critical minerals supply floor
From Chilean brine fields to Congolese copper pits, fifteen companies mine and refine the lithium, copper and cobalt the energy transition depends on.
The Democratic Republic of Congo supplies roughly 70% of world cobalt mine output from its Katanga Copperbelt, and since October 2025 has wielded OPEC-style export quotas to manage global prices.
The pyrometallurgical step that turns mineral concentrate into tradeable metal, smelting is where mining nations contest China's 51% share of global copper smelting to capture processing margin.
コンゴ民主共和国はCMOCの2026年コバルト輸出割当を3万1200トンと設定、2025年の生産量11万7549トンに対して大幅な制限。6月1日の作業停止が銅の生産リスクを高める中、CMOCは年間76万~82万トンを見通す
2025年12月に精錬所が初火入れ、年産50万トンの設計能力の60%で稼働；第1四半期のアノード生産は71,417トン；日産1,350トンの硫酸が現地の肥料計画を支える；コデルコとグレンコアは2032年に向け年産150万トンのチリ精錬所を検討