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suspends world’s  largest cobalt metal refinery","enrc-suspends-worlds-largest-cobalt-metal-refinery","article/enrc-suspends-worlds-largest-cobalt-metal-refinery",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":578,"featured":50,"reporter":705,"_editable":709,"component":710,"seo_title":553,"categories":711,"visibility":720,"author_company":49,"featured_image":721,"seo_description":578,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":726,"formattedArticleDate":727},"709b683e-2381-45ac-a5a1-d7a29f884b0a","2016-07-20 00:00",[],[561],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":564},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":565,"image":566,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":567},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":571,"content":572},"doc",[573,580,585,590,595,600,605,610,615,620,625,630,635,640,645,650,655,660,665,670,677,682,687,692,697,702],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":576},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[577],{"text":578,"type":579},"Depleted DRC cobalt reserves force ENRC to close its Chambishi refinery in Zambia","text",{"type":574,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":579},"Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Plc (ENRC) has suspended operations at the world’s largest cobalt metal plant.",{"type":574,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":579},"The company, which produces refined cobalt products from its Chambishi Metals facility in Kitwe, Zambia, produces 5% of global supply, which in 2014 accounted for 4,200 tonnes.",{"type":574,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":579},"Production is now set to remain offline at the facility until Q3 2015 at the earliest, with some industry sources telling Benchmark Mineral Intelligence that they remain sceptical over the long-term future of the plant.",{"type":574,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":579},"The closure follows rumours towards the end of 2014 that lower quality feedstock ores from ENRC’s mining site in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – Boss Mining – had made the production of oxide concentrates uneconomical and brought the future output of sulphide concentrate into question.",{"type":574,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":579},"Although these rumours are yet to be confirmed by the company, industry sources are confident that depleted cobalt-containing reserves are going to limit metal production from Chambishi in the longer term.",{"type":574,"attrs":606,"content":607},{"textAlign":49},[608],{"text":609,"type":579},"This slowdown could have major repercussions, not only for cobalt metal consumers but also for China’s feedstock consumers, who are estimated to have consumed around 4,000 tonnes of oxide concentrate from Boss Mining in 2014.",{"type":574,"attrs":611,"content":612},{"textAlign":49},[613],{"text":614,"type":579},"Last year, production at Chambishi fell for the second consecutive year, down 16% year-on-year.",{"type":574,"attrs":616,"content":617},{"textAlign":49},[618],{"text":619,"type":579},"With it still unclear whether operations at Chambishi will begin again after July, output will certainly fall again in 2015.",{"type":574,"attrs":621,"content":622},{"textAlign":49},[623],{"text":624,"type":579},"The suspension follows a turbulent year for the Zambian project, with technical issues causing production to fall at both ends of the year and mineralogy problems at the Boss Mining site continuing to bring the future of the project into question.",{"type":574,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":579},"These factors, alongside a tax dispute with Zambian authorities, saw Chambishi Metals – the facility’s holding company – register losses of $9.5m in September 2014.",{"type":574,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":579},"Feedstock material from the Boss mine is believed to be the sole source of raw material for the Chambishi Metals project.",{"type":574,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":579},"Tightening supplies globally are a major contributing factor to ENRC removing itself from any spot market activities, with the focus now on satisfying existing long-term contracts.",{"type":574,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":579},"This task will become increasingly difficult if production does not begin again in the second half of the year and is likely to add to price pressures that have already seen a marginal recovery in the market.",{"type":574,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":579},"The situation is compounded by increased demand from the battery sector, which is expected to consume greater volumes of feedstock for cathode materials entering 2016.",{"type":574,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[653],{"text":654,"type":579},"This will be led by Tesla Motors’ planned lithium-ion battery production from the Gigafactory, which is set to begin in H1 2016, but will also stretch supplies going into China where a number of battery producers are investing to expand operations.",{"type":574,"attrs":656,"content":657},{"textAlign":49},[658],{"text":659,"type":579},"Chinese cobalt consumption is forecast to increase by over 10% in 2015 alone.",{"type":574,"attrs":661,"content":662},{"textAlign":49},[663],{"text":664,"type":579},"Although China is expected to increase its refined cobalt output marginally in 2015, the construction of new mines is being restricted by the slump in financial markets, which is limiting capital for exploration and development of new sources of supply.",{"type":574,"attrs":666,"content":667},{"textAlign":49},[668],{"text":669,"type":579},"The closure of Chambishi could expose this shortfall, with the exploration sector hoping rising prices will provoke a renewed interest in the market – particularly as prices creep towards the $25/lb mark.",{"type":671,"attrs":672,"content":674},"heading",{"level":673,"textAlign":49},3,[675],{"text":676,"type":579},"Chambishi’s importance",{"type":574,"attrs":678,"content":679},{"textAlign":49},[680],{"text":681,"type":579},"ENRC acquired a 90% holding in Chambishi Metals in 2010, with the other 10% owned by Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings.",{"type":574,"attrs":683,"content":684},{"textAlign":49},[685],{"text":686,"type":579},"Investment in the plant has seen it become the world’s largest cobalt metal facility with capacity increasing to 6,000 tpa cobalt.",{"type":574,"attrs":688,"content":689},{"textAlign":49},[690],{"text":691,"type":579},"Despite these advancements, tax issues have limited cash-flow and issues with a blown transformer and roaster problems saw production fall by 800 tonnes in 2014.",{"type":574,"attrs":693,"content":694},{"textAlign":49},[695],{"text":696,"type":579},"The change in the mineralogy of ore bodies at the Boss Mining site is widely expected to see the production of oxide concentrates to be brought to a halt in the near term.",{"type":574,"attrs":698,"content":699},{"textAlign":49},[700],{"text":701,"type":579},"The declining availability of sulphide cobalt concentrate supply from Chambishi will add pressure to the industry’s dynamic of falling supply and increased 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