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.
完整档案 ›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.
刚果（金）将洛阳钼业2026年钴出口配额设为3.12万吨，而2025年产量达11.75万吨；6月1日停工加剧铜产量风险，洛阳钼业维持全年76万至82万吨铜产量指引
冶炼厂于2025年12月首次出炉，按年产50万吨设计产能的60%运行；一季度阳极产量为71,417吨；日产1,350吨硫酸支撑当地化肥计划；科德尔科与嘉能可正研究一座2032年投产、年产150万吨的智利冶炼厂