Cobalt Metal: This week, the domestic cobalt metal market saw limited overall changes, with spot prices rebounding slightly within a low range. Both supply and demand remained mediocre: mainstream smelters’ ex-works quotations were largely stable; approaching year-end, logistics gradually halted, and inquiries and quotations from traders and downstream enterprises essentially ceased, resulting in sluggish market activity. Fundamentally, cobalt intermediate products as raw materials have yet to arrive at ports in large volumes, and the structurally tight supply pattern upstream has not fundamentally shifted, continuing to provide some support for cobalt prices. Looking ahead, as market operations gradually resume after the Chinese New Year, restocking demand from downstream sectors is expected to be released, and refined cobalt prices are anticipated to retain upside room. Cobalt Hydroxide: This week, the cobalt intermediate products market continued to exhibit a “price without market” pattern. Supply side, most intermediate products from miners are still awaiting shipment locally in the DRC, with external quotations yet to resume, keeping spot supply tight. Demand side, as year-end approaches, some smelters have entered production line clearing and maintenance shutdowns, leading to a noticeable weakening in raw material purchase willingness and maintaining sluggish actual transactions. Overall, against the backdrop of an unclear timeline for large-scale arrivals of cobalt intermediate products at ports and escalating geopolitical risks, the structurally tight supply of cobalt raw materials in China may further intensify. Intermediate product prices are expected to retain upward momentum in the short term, with subsequent focus needed on logistics recovery pace and miners’ export progress. Cobalt Sulphate: This week, the cobalt sulphate market maintained generally sluggish operations, with spot prices largely stable. Supply side, approaching the Chinese New Year holiday, most smelters have successively scheduled maintenance shutdowns, reducing spot offers. Meanwhile, boosted by recent positive news from the cobalt ore sector, enterprises’ bullish expectations for the future have strengthened, leading producers to suspend quotations and tightening spot supply. Demand side, due to concerns over post-holiday cobalt sulphate price increases, downstream enterprises’ purchase willingness has recovered compared to the previous period, with some small and medium-sized ternary cathode precursor makers actively inquiring. However, with pre-holiday logistics halts imminent, actual transactions remained relatively limited, and overall market activity was subdued. Looking ahead, as logistics resume after the holiday and downstream enterprises gradually restart production and restock, demand is expected to be released progressively. Against the backdrop of phased supply tightening and sustained raw material cost support, cobalt sulphate prices are projected to regain an upward trend.

Refined Cobalt: The domestic refined cobalt market saw limited overall changes this week, with spot prices rebounding slightly within a low range. Both supply and demand remained mediocre: mainstream smelters' ex-works offers were largely stable; approaching year-end, logistics gradually halted, and inquiries and offers from traders and downstream enterprises basically ceased, resulting in sluggish market trading. Fundamentally, cobalt intermediate products have yet to arrive at ports in large volumes, and the structurally tight supply of upstream raw materials has not fundamentally shifted, continuing to provide some support for cobalt prices. Looking ahead, as market operations gradually resume after the Chinese New Year, downstream restocking demand is expected to be released, and refined cobalt prices are anticipated to retain upside room. Cobalt Intermediate Products: The cobalt intermediate products market continued to exhibit a "price without market" pattern this week. Supply side, most intermediate products from miners are still awaiting shipment locally in the DRC, with no resumed external offers, keeping spot cargo supply tight. Demand side, approaching year-end, some smelters entered production line clearing and maintenance shutdowns, leading to significantly weaker raw material purchase willingness, and actual market transactions remained sluggish. Overall, with the timing of large-scale arrivals of cobalt intermediate products at ports still unclear, coupled with escalating geopolitical risks, the structurally tight supply of cobalt raw materials in China may further intensify. Intermediate product prices are expected to maintain upward momentum in the short term, with subsequent focus needed on logistics recovery pace and miner export progress. Cobalt Sulphate: The cobalt sulphate market maintained generally sluggish operations this week, with spot prices largely stable. Supply side, nearing the Chinese New Year holiday, most smelters have successively scheduled maintenance shutdowns, reducing spot offers. Meanwhile, boosted by recent positive news from the cobalt ore sector, enterprises' bullish expectations for the future have strengthened, with producers suspending offers and spot cargo supply tightening. Demand side, due to concerns over post-holiday cobalt sulphate price increases, downstream enterprises' purchase willingness recovered somewhat compared to earlier periods, with some small and medium-sized ternary cathode precursor makers actively inquiring. However, with pre-holiday logistics halting imminently, actual transactions remained relatively limited, and overall market trading was subdued. Looking ahead, as logistics resume post-holiday and downstream enterprises gradually restart production and restock, demand is expected to be released progressively. Against the backdrop of phased supply tightening and sustained raw material cost support, cobalt sulphate prices are projected to regain an upward trend. SMM New Energy Research Team Cong Wang 021-5166-6838 Rui Ma 021-5159-5780 Disheng Feng 021-5166-6714 Yanlin Lü 021-2070-7875 Wenhao Xiao 021-5166-6872 Haohan Zhang 021-5166-6752 Zihan Wang 021-5166-6914 Jie Wang 021-5159-5902 Yang Xu 021-5166-6760 Lianting Yang 021-5159-5835 Zhaoyu Wang 021-5166-6827

On April 23, at the CCIE-2025SMM (20th) Copper Industry Conference and Copper Industry Expo - Main Forum, hosted by SMM Information & Technology Co., Ltd., SMM Metal Trading Center, and Shandong Aisi Information Technology Co., Ltd., with Jiangxi Copper Corporation and Yingtan Land Port Holding Co., Ltd. as main sponsors, and Shandong Humon Smelting Co., Ltd. as a special co-organizer, Xinhuang Group and Zhongtiao Mountain Nonferrous Metals Group Co., Ltd. as co-organizers, Wang Jianlong, Deputy Director of Metallurgy Department One of China ENFI Engineering & Technology Co., Ltd., shared insights on the global copper smelting landscape and intelligent development. Ben Knoefler, Chairman of the Board of KCI Group, analyzed the global copper market for 2025. 1 Global Copper Resource Distribution Overall, the world's copper resources are relatively abundant, with an estimated 31 billion tons of land-based copper resources and 7 billion tons in deep-sea nodules. Natural copper minerals include native copper, oxides, and sulfides. The world's proven copper reserves are about 10 billion tons, and based on current mine production, the static assurance period for mining is approximately 45 years. In terms of regional distribution, the main areas with concentrated copper ore resources globally are: (1) The western foothills of the Andes in Peru and Chile, South America; (2) The Cordillera region in the western part of the North American continent, mainly in the US and Mexico; (3) Central Africa, particularly in the DRC and Zambia; (4) Central Asia, mainly Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia; (5) Australia. The top five countries in terms of copper ore reserves are Chile, Peru, Australia, Russia, and the DRC, accounting for about 57% of the total. 2 Global Refined Copper Consumption Global copper consumption is mainly concentrated in two types of countries or regions. One type is traditional developed Western countries, where copper consumption is relatively stable. The other type is developing countries and regions experiencing rapid economic growth, which have higher copper consumption growth rates and are key factors in global copper consumption growth. According to ICSG statistics, global refined copper consumption in 2024 was 28.577 million mt, up 5.79% YoY. The growth in global refined copper consumption is mainly supported by strong apparent demand in China. The main areas of global copper consumption are power grids, construction, consumer goods, transportation, and engineering machinery, accounting for 28%, 27%, 22%, 12%, and 11% respectively. As a basic raw material, changes in copper consumption are closely related to global economic development. In recent years, consumption of copper plate/sheet and strip in traditional fields and copper foil for circuit boards has been relatively weak, while copper use in the power and new energy sectors has performed well. 3 Global Refined Copper Production and Capacity Distribution Global refined copper production in 2024 was 28.0228 million mt, up 4.07% YoY. The increase in refined copper production is mainly due to capacity expansion in China and the DRC, while production in other regions decreased by about 1%. As the largest consumer and producer of refined copper, China does not have a significant advantage in copper ore resources and needs to import large amounts of copper concentrates. China's refined copper production and copper concentrate imports In 2024, China's refined copper production was 13.644 million mt, and copper concentrate imports were 28.11 million mt. To address the current state of the copper smelting industry, relevant national departments are promoting the healthy and orderly development of the copper smelting industry through industrial policies, environmental protection policies, and other measures. In general, on the supply side, efforts are being made to deepen supply-side structural reforms, strictly control the disorderly expansion of copper smelting capacity, and accelerate intelligent and green transformation. On the demand side, enterprises are being guided to accelerate technological progress, overcome the shortcomings of copper-based new materials, and fully tap the potential applications of copper in new infrastructure and construction projects. Major Chinese Copper Smelters According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 40 copper smelters (production lines) nationwide, with four groups having a capacity of over 1 million mt/a. 4 Global Copper Smelting Processes and Their Development Copper Smelting Processes Pyrometallurgy (80%): Impurities are removed as slag at high temperatures, resulting in copper anode, which is then electrolyzed to produce refined copper. Traditional matte smelting, the main process for copper smelting, is suitable for sulfide ores. One-step copper smelting, with limited industrial application, is suitable for sulfide ores under special raw material conditions. Hydrometallurgy (20%): Copper is enriched in solution through leaching and extraction processes, followed by electrodeposition to produce refined copper. • Leach-extraction-electrodeposition, suitable for oxide ores, especially for large-scale processing of low-grade oxide ores. • Roast-leach-extraction-electrodeposition, suitable for sulfide ores, mixed ores, and copper-cobalt ores. • Oxygen pressure leach-extraction-electrodeposition, suitable for sulfide ores, mixed ores, and copper-cobalt ores. Copper Pyrometallurgical Process Flow It also elaborated on the hydrometallurgical process flow of copper, including roasting, leaching, extraction, and electrodeposition. Several Main Matte Smelting Processes and Their Development ► Flash Smelting: Flash smelting technology includes Outokumpu flash smelting and INCO flash smelting, with Outokumpu technology being widely applied. China began introducing flash smelting technology in the 1980s. Xiangguang Copper innovated boldly based on flash smelting technology, inventing the vortex flash smelting technology, which received a national invention patent. Advantages include high capacity, high automation, and longer furnace life; disadvantages include high investment, complex feed preparation system, poor adaptability to high-impurity raw materials, and the need to reduce costs through scale effects. Recent developments include: high oxygen (even pure oxygen) smelting, further expansion of single-furnace capacity (500,000 mt/a), continuous innovation and improvement of process equipment, and gradual localization. ► Top-Blown Smelting: Top-blown smelting technology, including Ausmelt smelting and ISA smelting, was introduced to China in the 1990s. Characteristics of top-blown smelting technology include using a submerged lance to blow air and oxygen into the melt pool, providing strong stirring and good reaction kinetics, and high production efficiency. Disadvantages include the need to add fuel, inability to separate slag and copper in the furnace, requiring a settling electric furnace, high comprehensive energy consumption, low utilization of oxygen and fuel, and short furnace life. Recent developments include: increasing oxygen concentration, improving matte grade, raising smelting temperature, and continuously extending lance and furnace life. ► Bottom-Blown Smelting: Bottom-blown smelting is a new copper smelting technology with independent intellectual property rights from China ENFI. It was first industrially applied in Vietnam in 2002, and the first bottom-blown copper smelting production line in China was put into operation in 2008. Advantages include simple feed preparation, low furnace investment, high oxygen utilization, and strong adaptability to raw materials, capable of handling high-impurity raw materials. Disadvantages include high copper content in slag and low direct recovery rate. Developments include: further expansion of single-furnace processing capacity (1.8 million mt/a of concentrate); as a representative technology for matte gold capture, it has low requirements for copper content in concentrate and has been applied in complex gold concentrate processing at Shandong Humon, Central China Gold, and Guotou Jincheng. Zhongjin Lingnan Copper Co., Ltd. (formerly Dongying Fangyuan) developed the "Zhongjin Method" for two-step copper smelting based on bottom-blown smelting. China ENFI and Baotou Huading Copper Industry developed the full bottom-blow three-furnace process based on bottom-blown smelting and continuous bottom-blowing. ► Side-Blown Smelting: Based on Vanyukov smelting technology, China developed and applied oxygen-enriched double side-blowing smelting technology in 2009, which has rapidly developed in recent years. Characteristics of side-blown smelting technology include blowing air and oxygen into the melt pool through tuyeres on both sides of the furnace, improving mass and heat transfer conditions, with low blowing pressure, low copper content in slag, and relatively simple operation. Disadvantages include the need for manual opening and plugging of tuyeres and the need to add coal (mainly to inhibit magnetic iron in slag). Recent developments: Rapidly achieved a leap from 100,000 mt capacity to 400,000 mt capacity, with the maximum bed area reaching 70 square meters. ► P-S Converter Blowing: P-S converter blowing, invented in 1905, has been used for over a century and remains the primary copper matte blowing technology worldwide. Advantages include flexible operation and the ability to balance various cold copper-containing materials and externally purchased cold copper using reaction heat. Disadvantages include periodic intermittent operation, large fluctuations in flue gas volume and sulfur content, which are unfavorable for acid-making systems, large flue gas collection volumes, and difficult-to-solve low-altitude SO2 pollution caused by ladle lifting. The drawbacks of P-S converters have prompted metallurgists to seek continuous blowing technologies. ► Flash Blowing: The world's first flash blowing furnace was commissioned at Kennecott Utah Copper in 1995, forming the "double flash" process when paired with flash smelting. Xiangguang Copper was the first in China to introduce "double flash" technology, and the first flash blowing furnace in China was put into operation in 2007. After years of improvement, it developed into vortex flash blowing technology. Currently, there are six flash blowing furnaces in operation in China, five of which are paired with flash smelting, each with a capacity of over 400,000 mt/a, and one paired with bottom-blown smelting, with a capacity of 300,000-400,000 mt/a. Advantages include easy measurement of solid matte, high automation, and high operating rate. Disadvantages include the need for additional grinding equipment for matte and limitations in handling cold materials like anode stubs due to furnace structure and thermal balance. The maximum single-unit designed capacity has reached 500,000 mt/a. Additionally, it provided a detailed introduction to the processes and developments of bottom-blowing and multi-lance top-blowing. 5 Trends in the Copper Smelting Industry Main factors and trends driving global copper smelting development It also reviewed the development policies of China's copper smelting industry and shared interpretations of the main contents of the High-Quality Development Plan for the Copper Industry (2025-2027). 6 Intelligent Development in the Copper Smelting Industry Background of intelligent transformation and upgrading Policy promotion for intelligent transformation and upgrading In March 2021, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) issued the Notice on Accelerating the Digital Transformation of State-Owned Enterprises. In November 2021, the MIIT issued the 14th Five-Year Plan for Deep Integration of Informatization and Industrialization. In April 2020, the MIIT, NDRC, and Ministry of Natural Resources jointly released the Guidelines for the Construction of Smart Factories (Mines) in the Nonferrous Metals Industry (Trial). Among these, the Guidelines for the Construction of Smart Smelting Factories in the Nonferrous Metals Industry, led by China ENFI, provide a top-level design for the intelligent development of the nonferrous metal smelting industry. Overall implementation plan for smart factories Expected effects of smart factory implementation It discussed in detail aspects such as organizational management model reconstruction, innovative digital transformation panoramic view, data assetization, and improvement of technical and economic indicators. For more information, click to view the special report on the CCIE-2025SMM (20th) Copper Industry Conference and Copper Industry Expo.

[Has Cobalt Prices Changed, But Its "Power" Is No Longer the Same?] The battery-grade raw material cobalt, which once dictated the price trends of NEV power batteries, seems to have stirred up a "storm" again recently. On March 5, Gasgoo Auto noticed that domestic power battery producer Ganfeng LiEnergy issued a customer notice stating: Recently, a civil war broke out in the world's largest cobalt mine production area, the DRC, leading to a global cobalt ore supply shortage and a significant rise in cobalt prices. (Gasgoo Auto)

SHANGHAI, Mar 15 (SMM) – The monthly average price of cobalt sulphate stood at 40,000 yuan/mt in February, a drop of 11% month-on-month and 65% year-on-year.