CRU: Katanga will Bring Cobalt Market into Surplus

LONDON, January 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Glencore published an investor update last week, which included a large amount of information pertaining to the restart of the company's Katanga operation in the DRC. This included an updated timeline, current upgrade procedures and new guidance production figures for copper and cobalt on the site - which suggests that cobalt production is likely to be much higher than initially expected.

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Before last week, the last news published on the Katanga upgrade was a technical document released on the March 31st 2017, which gave a total production capacity target of 30ktpa of saleable cobalt (contained in cobalt hydroxide). This target annual production capacity was forecasted to be reached by 2019, with the site having a total capacity of 15ktpa in 2018. However, Glencore's recent investor update has revealed an upgrade in the company's expectations for cobalt production at the site, with their production guidance figures for cobalt output at Katanga now at 11ktpa in 2018 and 34ktpa in 2019. This is a strong indication that Glencore's ongoing upgrade work on Katanga's cobalt recovery circuit - including the development of sulphur burning capacity, additional acid storage capacity and the refurbishment of power infrastructure - has progressed smoothly in 2017.

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