Chinese Miner Takes Glencore’s Cobalt Crown as Output Jumps 170%

(Bloomberg) — China’s CMOC Group Ltd. boosted its cobalt output by more than 170% last year, with surging production at a new mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo helping the company leapfrog Glencore Plc as the world’s top producer of the key battery metal.

Hong Kong-listed CMOC produced 55,526 tons of cobalt in 2023, it said in a filing on Thursday. In October, Glencore forecast output of as much as 42,000 tons. While investors and traders had been expecting a large increase at CMOC’s massive Kisanfu mine — which came online in the second quarter — the full-year result exceeded the company’s own production guidance by more than 20%.