{"id":1200024,"date":"2020-08-05T12:45:21","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T17:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1031788"},"modified":"2020-08-05T12:45:21","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T17:45:21","slug":"cobalt-price-surges-on-transport-delays-from-sa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1200024","title":{"rendered":"Cobalt price surges on transport delays from SA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Transport delays from South Africa against an increasingly robust Chinese demand have fuelled a price rally for cobalt hydroxide, used to make chemicals for electric vehicle batteries.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa implemented a\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/south-africa-orders-mines-to-close-in-21-day-virus-lockdown\/\" >covid-19 lockdown<\/a>\u00a0on March 27, under which ports handle only essential goods with reduced staff, leaving minerals mined across southern and central Africa without a key route to international markets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are seeing a scramble for cobalt hydroxide in China, (but) buyers are finding it isn\u2019t there,\u201d Benchmark Mineral Intelligence\u2019s (BMI) head of price assessment Caspar Rawles told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>More than\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/chart-chinas-stranglehold-on-electric-car-battery-supply-chain\/\">80% of the chemical processing and refining capacity of cobalt is located in China<\/a>, which after Glencore, is also the largest cobalt miner inside the DRC.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cobalt hydroxide prices are typically a percentage of the metal price, known as a payable. According to an assessment by BMI, payables hit levels around 75% in July, their highest in two years, from around 67% last month.<\/p>\n<p>Traders said payables had risen even further, to around 85% currently.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fingfx.thomsonreuters.com\/gfx\/ce\/dgkvldkwqvb\/cobalt%20payables2.JPG\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>Cobalt prices CBD0 on the London Metal Exchange are at $33,000 a tonne, the highest since early March and up more than 15% since the end of July.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fingfx.thomsonreuters.com\/gfx\/ce\/oakpemyakpr\/cobalt%20pricelme.JPG\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>However, surpluses are still expected this year, with CRU Group\u2019s George Heppel putting the number at 6,000 tonnes while BMI forecasts an oversupply of around 5,000 tonnes.<\/p>\n<p><em>(With files from Reuters)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transport delays from South Africa against an increasingly robust Chinese demand have fuelled a price rally for cobalt hydroxide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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