Cobalt is a
chemical element
A chemical element is a chemical substance whose atoms all have the same number of protons. The number of protons is called the atomic number of that element. For example, oxygen has an atomic number of 8: each oxygen atom has 8 protons in its ...
; it has
symbol
A symbol is a mark, Sign (semiotics), sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, physical object, object, or wikt:relationship, relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by cr ...
Co and
atomic number
The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of its atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei composed of protons and neutrons, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of pro ...
27. As with
nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural
meteoric iron
Meteoric iron, sometimes meteoritic iron, is a native metal and early-universe protoplanetary-disk remnant found in meteorites and made from the elements iron and nickel, mainly in the form of the mineral phases kamacite and taenite. Meteoric ...
. The
free element, produced by reductive
smelting
Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...
, is a hard, lustrous, somewhat brittle, gray
metal
A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
.
Cobalt-based blue pigments (
cobalt blue) have been used since antiquity for jewelry and paints, and to impart a distinctive blue tint to glass. The color was long thought to be due to the metal
bismuth. Miners had long used the name ''
kobold
A kobold (; ''kobolt'', ''kobolde'', cobold) is a general or generic name for the household spirit (''hausgeist'') in German folklore.
It may invisibly make noises (i.e., be a poltergeist), or helpfully perform kitchen chores or stable work. ...
ore'' (
German for ''
goblin
A goblin is a small, grotesque, monster, monstrous humanoid creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearan ...
ore'') for some of the blue pigment-producing
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...
s. They were so named because they were poor in known metals and gave off poisonous
arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...
-containing fumes when smelted. In 1735, such ores were found to be reducible to a new metal (the first discovered since ancient times), which was ultimately named for the ''kobold''.
Today, some cobalt is produced specifically from one of a number of metallic-lustered ores, such as
cobaltite (CoAsS). The element is more usually produced as a by-product of
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
and nickel mining. The
Copperbelt in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
(DRC) and
Zambia
Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
yields most of the global cobalt production. World production in 2016 was according to
Natural Resources Canada, and the DRC alone accounted for more than 50%.
In 2024, production exceeded 300,000 tons, of which DRC accounted for more than 80%.
Cobalt is primarily used in
lithium-ion batteries, and in the manufacture of
magnetic, wear-resistant and high-strength
alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...
s. The compounds cobalt silicate and
cobalt(II) aluminate (CoAl
2O
4, cobalt blue) give a distinctive deep blue color to
glass
Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...
,
ceramic
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...
s,
inks,
paint
Paint is a material or mixture that, when applied to a solid material and allowed to dry, adds a film-like layer. As art, this is used to create an image or images known as a painting. Paint can be made in many colors and types. Most paints are ...
s and
varnishes. Cobalt occurs naturally as only one stable
isotope
Isotopes are distinct nuclear species (or ''nuclides'') of the same chemical element. They have the same atomic number (number of protons in their Atomic nucleus, nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemica ...
, cobalt-59.
Cobalt-60 is a commercially important radioisotope, used as a
radioactive tracer and for the production of high-energy
gamma ray
A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol ), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from high energy interactions like the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei or astronomical events like solar flares. It consists o ...
s. Cobalt is also used in the petroleum industry as a catalyst when refining crude oil. This is to purge it of sulfur, which is very polluting when burned and causes
acid rain
Acid rain is rain or any other form of Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists b ...
.
Cobalt is the active center of a group of
coenzymes called
cobalamin
Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. One of eight B vitamins, it serves as a vital cofactor (biochemistry), cofactor in DNA synthesis and both fatty acid metabolism, fatty acid and amino a ...
s.
Vitamin B, the best-known example of the type, is an essential
vitamin
Vitamins are Organic compound, organic molecules (or a set of closely related molecules called vitamer, vitamers) that are essential to an organism in small quantities for proper metabolism, metabolic function. Nutrient#Essential nutrients, ...
for all animals. Cobalt in inorganic form is also a
micronutrient for
bacteria
Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...
,
algae
Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...
, and
fungi
A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...
.
The name cobalt derives from a type of ore considered a nuisance by 16th century German silver miners, which in turn may have been named from a spirit or goblin held superstitiously responsible for it; this spirit is considered equitable to the
kobold
A kobold (; ''kobolt'', ''kobolde'', cobold) is a general or generic name for the household spirit (''hausgeist'') in German folklore.
It may invisibly make noises (i.e., be a poltergeist), or helpfully perform kitchen chores or stable work. ...
(a
household spirit) by some, or, categorized as a
gnome (mine spirit) by others.
Characteristics

Cobalt is a
ferromagnetic
Ferromagnetism is a property of certain materials (such as iron) that results in a significant, observable magnetic permeability, and in many cases, a significant magnetic coercivity, allowing the material to form a permanent magnet. Ferromagne ...
metal with a
specific gravity of 8.9. The
Curie temperature is and the magnetic moment is 1.6–1.7
Bohr magneton
In atomic physics, the Bohr magneton (symbol ) is a physical constant and the natural unit for expressing the magnetic moment of an electron caused by its orbital or spin angular momentum.
In SI units, the Bohr magneton is defined as
\mu_\mat ...
s per
atom
Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...
. Cobalt has a
relative permeability two-thirds that of
iron
Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
.
Metal
A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
lic cobalt occurs as two
crystallographic structures:
hcp and
fcc. The ideal transition temperature between the hcp and fcc structures is , but in practice the energy difference between them is so small that random intergrowth of the two is common.
Cobalt is a weakly reducing metal that is protected from
oxidation
Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is ...
by a
passivating oxide
An oxide () is a chemical compound containing at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula. "Oxide" itself is the dianion (anion bearing a net charge of −2) of oxygen, an O2− ion with oxygen in the oxidation st ...
film. It is attacked by
halogens
The halogens () are a group (periodic table), group in the periodic table consisting of six chemically related chemical element, elements: fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and the radioactive elements astatine (At) and ten ...
and
sulfur
Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...
. Heating in
oxygen
Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...
produces
Co3O4 which loses oxygen at to give the
monoxide CoO.
The metal reacts with
fluorine
Fluorine is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at Standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions as pale yellow Diatomic molecule, diatomic gas. Fluorine is extre ...
(F
2) at 520 K to give
CoF3; with
chlorine
Chlorine is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between ...
(Cl
2),
bromine
Bromine is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Br and atomic number 35. It is a volatile red-brown liquid at room temperature that evaporates readily to form a similarly coloured vapour. Its properties are intermediate between th ...
(Br
2) and
iodine (I
2), producing equivalent binary
halides. It does not react with
hydrogen gas (
H2) or
nitrogen gas (
N2) even when heated, but it does react with
boron,
carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...
,
phosphorus
Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...
,
arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...
and sulfur. At ordinary temperatures, it reacts slowly with
mineral acids, and very slowly with moist, but not dry, air.
Compounds
Common
oxidation state
In chemistry, the oxidation state, or oxidation number, is the hypothetical Electrical charge, charge of an atom if all of its Chemical bond, bonds to other atoms are fully Ionic bond, ionic. It describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons ...
s of cobalt include +2 and +3, although compounds with oxidation states ranging from −3 to
+5 are also known. A common oxidation state for simple compounds is +2 (cobalt(II)). These salts form the pink-colored
metal aquo complex in water. Addition of chloride gives the intensely blue .
In a borax bead
flame test, cobalt shows deep blue in both oxidizing and reducing flames.
Oxygen and chalcogen compounds
Several
oxide
An oxide () is a chemical compound containing at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula. "Oxide" itself is the dianion (anion bearing a net charge of −2) of oxygen, an O2− ion with oxygen in the oxidation st ...
s of cobalt are known. Green
cobalt(II) oxide (CoO) has
rocksalt structure. It is readily oxidized with water and oxygen to brown cobalt(III) hydroxide (Co(OH)
3). At temperatures of 600–700 °C, CoO oxidizes to the blue
cobalt(II,III) oxide (Co
3O
4), which has a
spinel structure.
Black
cobalt(III) oxide (Co
2O
3) is also known. Cobalt oxides are
antiferromagnetic at low
temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...
: CoO (
Néel temperature 291 K) and Co
3O
4 (Néel temperature: 40 K), which is analogous to
magnetite
Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula . It is one of the iron oxide, oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetism, ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetization, magnetized to become a ...
(Fe
3O
4), with a mixture of +2 and +3 oxidation states.
The principal
chalcogenides of cobalt are the black
cobalt(II) sulfides, CoS
2 (
pyrite structure), (
spinel structure), and CoS (
nickel arsenide structure).
Halides
Four
dihalides of cobalt(II) are known:
cobalt(II) fluoride (CoF
2, pink),
cobalt(II) chloride (CoCl
2, blue),
cobalt(II) bromide (CoBr
2, green),
cobalt(II) iodide (CoI
2, blue-black). These halides exist in anhydrous and hydrated forms. Whereas the anhydrous dichloride is blue, the hydrate is red.
The reduction potential for the reaction + e
− → is +1.92 V, beyond that for
chlorine
Chlorine is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between ...
to chloride, +1.36 V. Consequently,
cobalt(III) chloride would spontaneously reduce to cobalt(II) chloride and chlorine. Because the reduction potential for fluorine to fluoride is so high, +2.87 V,
cobalt(III) fluoride is one of the few simple stable cobalt(III) compounds. Cobalt(III) fluoride, which is used in some fluorination reactions, reacts vigorously with water.
Coordination compounds
The inventory of complexes is very large. Starting with higher oxidation states, complexes of Co(IV) and Co(V) are rare. Examples are found in
caesium hexafluorocobaltate(IV) (Cs
2CoF
6) and potassium
percobaltate (K
3CoO
4).
Cobalt(III) forms a wide variety of
coordination complex
A coordination complex is a chemical compound consisting of a central atom or ion, which is usually metallic and is called the ''coordination centre'', and a surrounding array of chemical bond, bound molecules or ions, that are in turn known as ' ...
es with ammonia and amines, which are called
ammine complexes. Examples include , (
chloropentamminecobalt(III)), and ''cis''- and ''trans''-. The corresponding
ethylenediamine
Ethylenediamine (abbreviated as en when a ligand) is the organic compound with the formula C2H4(NH2)2. This colorless liquid with an ammonia-like odor is a basic amine. It is a widely used building block in chemical synthesis, with approximately ...
complexes are also well known. Analogues are known where the halides are replaced by
nitrite,
hydroxide,
carbonate
A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, (), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word "carbonate" may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate group ...
, etc.
Alfred Werner worked extensively on these complexes in his Nobel-prize winning work. The robustness of these complexes is demonstrated by the
optical resolution of
tris(ethylenediamine)cobalt(III) ().
Cobalt(II) forms a wide variety of complexes, but mainly with weakly basic ligands. The pink-colored cation
hexaaquocobalt(II) is found in several routine cobalt salts such as the nitrate and sulfate. Upon addition of excess chloride, solutions of the
hexaaquo complex converts to the deep blue , which is tetrahedral.
Softer ligands like
triphenylphosphine form complexes with Co(II) and Co(I), examples being bis- and tris(triphenylphosphine)cobalt(I) chloride, and . These Co(I) and Co(II) complexes represent a link to the organometallic complexes described below.
Organometallic compounds
Cobaltocene is a
structural analog
A structural analog, also known as a chemical analog or simply an analog, is a chemical compound, compound having a chemical structure, structure similar to that of another compound, but differing from it in respect to a certain component.
It can ...
to
ferrocene
Ferrocene is an organometallic chemistry, organometallic compound with the formula . The molecule is a Cyclopentadienyl complex, complex consisting of two Cyclopentadienyl anion, cyclopentadienyl rings sandwiching a central iron atom. It is an o ...
, with cobalt in place of iron. Cobaltocene is much more sensitive to oxidation than ferrocene.
Cobalt carbonyl (
Co2(CO)8) is a
catalyst in
carbonylation and
hydrosilylation reactions.
Vitamin B
12 (see
below) is an organometallic compound found in nature and is the only
vitamin
Vitamins are Organic compound, organic molecules (or a set of closely related molecules called vitamer, vitamers) that are essential to an organism in small quantities for proper metabolism, metabolic function. Nutrient#Essential nutrients, ...
that contains a metal atom.
An example of an alkylcobalt complex in the otherwise uncommon +4 oxidation state of cobalt is the homoleptic complex
tetrakis(1-norbornyl)cobalt(IV)
Tetrakis(1-norbornyl)cobalt(IV) is an air-sensitive Organometallic chemistry, organometallic compound of cobalt. It was first synthesized by Barton K. Bower and Howard G. Tennent in 1972 and is one of few compounds in which cobalt has a formal oxid ...
(Co(1-norb)
4), a transition metal-alkyl complex that is notable for its resistance to
β-hydrogen elimination,
in accord with
Bredt's rule. The cobalt(III) and cobalt(V) complexes and are also known.
Isotopes
59Co is the only stable cobalt
isotope
Isotopes are distinct nuclear species (or ''nuclides'') of the same chemical element. They have the same atomic number (number of protons in their Atomic nucleus, nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemica ...
and the only isotope that exists naturally on Earth. Twenty-two
radioisotopes have been characterized: the most stable,
60Co, has a
half-life Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay.
Half-life, half life or halflife may also refer to:
Film
* Half-Life (film), ''Half-Life'' (film), a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang
* ''Half Life: ...
of 5.2714 years;
57Co has a half-life of 271.8 days;
56Co has a half-life of 77.27 days; and
58Co has a half-life of 70.86 days. All the other
radioactive isotopes of cobalt have half-lives shorter than 18 hours, and in most cases shorter than 1 second. This element also has 4
meta states, all of which have half-lives shorter than 15 minutes.
The isotopes of cobalt range in
atomic weight from 50
u (
50Co) to 73 u (
73Co). The primary
decay mode for isotopes with atomic mass unit values less than that of the only stable isotope,
59Co, is
electron capture
Electron capture (K-electron capture, also K-capture, or L-electron capture, L-capture) is a process in which the proton-rich nucleus of an electrically neutral atom absorbs an inner atomic electron, usually from the K or L electron shells. Th ...
and the primary mode of decay in isotopes with atomic mass greater than 59 atomic mass units is
beta decay
In nuclear physics, beta decay (β-decay) is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits a beta particle (fast energetic electron or positron), transforming into an isobar of that nuclide. For example, beta decay of a neutron ...
. The primary
decay products below
59Co are element 26 (
iron
Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
) isotopes; above that the decay products are element 28 (nickel) isotopes.
Because
59Co is a nucleus of spin 7/2 and 100% abundancy, it is possible to detect it using
nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, most commonly known as NMR spectroscopy or magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), is a Spectroscopy, spectroscopic technique based on re-orientation of Atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei with non-zero nuclear sp ...
.
[
] The nucleus has a magnetic
quadrupole moment. Among all NMR active nuclei,
59Co has the largest chemical shift range and the chemical shift can be correlated with the
spectrochemical series.
Resonances are observed over a range of 20000 ppm, the width of the signals being up to 20 kHz. A widely used standard is potassium hexacyanocobaltate (0.1M in ), which, due to its high symmetry, has a rather small line width. Systems of low symmetry can yield broadened signals to an extent that renders the signals unobservable in fluid phase NMR, but still observable in
solid state NMR.
Etymology
Many different stories about the origin of the word "cobalt" have been proposed. In one version the element ''cobalt'' was named after "", the name which 16th century German silver miners had given to a nuisance type of ore which occurred that was corrosive and issued poisonous gas.
Although such ores had been used for blue pigmentation since antiquity, the Germans at that time did not have the technology to
smelt the ore into metal (cf. below).
The authority on such ''kobelt'' ore (Latinized as ''cobaltum'' or ''cadmia''
) at the time was
Georgius Agricola
Georgius Agricola (; born Georg Bauer; 24 March 1494 – 21 November 1555) was a German Humanist scholar, mineralogist and metallurgist. Born in the small town of Glauchau, in the Electorate of Saxony of the Holy Roman Empire, he was b ...
.
He was also the oft-quoted authority on the mine spirits called "" (Latinized as ''cobalus'' or pl. ''cobali'') in a separate work.
Agricola did not make a connection between the similarly named ore and spirit. However, a causal connection (ore blamed on "kobel") was made by a contemporary, and a word origin connection (word "formed" from ''cobalus'') made by a late 18th century writer. Later, Grimms' dictionary (1868) noted the ''kobalt/kobelt'' ore was blamed on the mountain spirit () which was also held responsible for "stealing the silver and putting out an ore that caused poor mining atmosphere (''Wetter''
) and other health hazards".
Grimms' dictionary entries equated the word "kobel" with "kobold", and listed it as a mere variant
diminutive
A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...
, but the latter is defined in it as a
household spirit.
Whereas some of the more recent commentators prefer to characterize the ore's namesake ''kobelt'' (recté ''kobel'') as a
gnome.
The early 20th century ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (1st edition, 1908) had upheld Grimm's etymology.
However, by around the same time in Germany, the alternate etymology not endorsed by Grimm (''kob/kof'' "house, chamber" + ''walt'' "power, ruler") was being proposed as more convincing.
Somewhat later,
Paul Kretschmer (1928) explained that while this "house ruler" etymology was the proper one that backed the original meaning of kobold as household spirit, a corruption later occurred introducing the idea of "mine demon" to it.
The present edition of the ''
Etymologisches Wörterbuch'' (25th ed., 2012) under "kobold" lists the latter, not Grimm's etymology, but still persists, under its entry for "kobalt", that while the cobalt ore may have got its name from "a type of mine spirit/demon" (''daemon metallicus'') while stating that this is "apparently" the kobold.
Joseph William Mellor (1935) also stated that cobalt may derive from ''kobalos'' (), though other theories had been suggested.
Alternate theories
Several alternative etymologies that have been suggested, which may not involve a spirit (kobel or kobold) at all. Karl Müller-Fraureuth conjectured that ''kobelt'' derived from ', a bucket used in mining, frequently mentioned by Agricola,
namely the ''kobel/köbel'' (Latinized as ''modulus'').
Another theory given by the ''Etymologisches Wörterbuch'' derives the term from
or rather (, "arsenic sulfide"
[Liddell and Scott (1940). '']A Greek–English Lexicon
''A Greek–English Lexicon'', often referred to as ''Liddell & Scott'' () or ''Liddell–Scott–Jones'' (''LSJ''), is a standard lexicographical work of the Ancient Greek language originally edited by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, H ...
''. s.v. "". Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press. . Online version retrieved 29 August 2024.) which occurs as noxious fumes.
An etymology from Slavonic ' was suggested by
Emanuel Merck (1902).
W. W. Skeat and J. Berendes construed as "parasite", i.e. as an ore parasitic to
nickel,
but this explanation is faulted for its anachronism since nickel was not discovered until 1751.
History

Cobalt compounds have been used for centuries to impart a rich blue color to
glass
Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...
,
glazes, and
ceramics. Cobalt has been detected in Egyptian sculpture, Persian jewelry from the third millennium BC, in the ruins of
Pompeii
Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...
, destroyed in 79 AD, and in China, dating from the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
(618–907 AD) and the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
(1368–1644 AD).
Cobalt has been used to color glass since the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
. The excavation of the
Uluburun shipwreck yielded an ingot of blue glass, cast during the 14th century BC.
Blue glass from Egypt was either colored with copper, iron, or cobalt. The oldest cobalt-colored glass is from the
eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (1550–1292 BC). The source for the cobalt the Egyptians used is not known.
The word ''cobalt'' is derived from the 16th century German "", a type of ore, as aforementioned. The first attempts to smelt those ores for copper or silver failed, yielding simply powder (cobalt(II) oxide) instead. Because the primary ores of cobalt always contain arsenic, smelting the ore oxidized the arsenic into the highly toxic and volatile
arsenic oxide, adding to the notoriety of the ore.
Paracelsus,
Georgius Agricola
Georgius Agricola (; born Georg Bauer; 24 March 1494 – 21 November 1555) was a German Humanist scholar, mineralogist and metallurgist. Born in the small town of Glauchau, in the Electorate of Saxony of the Holy Roman Empire, he was b ...
, and
Basil Valentine all referred to such silicates as "cobalt".
Swedish chemist
Georg Brandt (1694–1768) is credited with discovering cobalt , showing it to be a previously unknown element, distinct from bismuth and other traditional metals. Brandt called it a new "semi-metal",
naming it for the mineral from which he had extracted it. He showed that compounds of cobalt metal were the source of the blue color in glass, which previously had been attributed to the bismuth found with cobalt. Cobalt became the first metal to be discovered since the pre-historical period. All previously known metals (iron, copper, silver, gold, zinc, mercury, tin, lead and bismuth) had no recorded discoverers.
During the 19th century, a significant part of the world's production of
cobalt blue (a pigment made with cobalt compounds and alumina) and
smalt (
cobalt glass powdered for use for pigment purposes in ceramics and painting) was carried out at the Norwegian
Blaafarveværket. The first mines for the production of smalt in the 16th century were located in Norway, Sweden,
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
and Hungary. With the discovery of cobalt ore in
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
in 1864, the mining of cobalt in Europe declined. With the discovery of ore deposits in
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada, in 1904 and the discovery of even larger deposits in the
Katanga Province in the
Congo in 1914, mining operations shifted again.
When the
Shaba conflict started in 1978, the copper mines of Katanga Province nearly stopped production.
The impact on the world cobalt economy from this conflict was smaller than expected: cobalt is a rare metal, the pigment is highly toxic, and the industry had already established effective ways for recycling cobalt materials. In some cases, industry was able to change to cobalt-free alternatives.
In 1938,
John Livingood and
Glenn T. Seaborg discovered the radioisotope
cobalt-60. This isotope was famously used at
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in the 1950s to establish
parity violation in radioactive
beta decay
In nuclear physics, beta decay (β-decay) is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits a beta particle (fast energetic electron or positron), transforming into an isobar of that nuclide. For example, beta decay of a neutron ...
.
After World War II, the US wanted to guarantee the supply of cobalt ore for military uses (as the Germans had been doing) and prospected for cobalt within the US. High purity cobalt was highly sought after for its use in jet engines and gas turbines.
An adequate supply of the ore was found in Idaho near
Blackbird canyon. Calera Mining Company started production at the site.
Cobalt demand has further accelerated in the 21st century as an essential constituent of materials used in rechargeable batteries, superalloys, and catalysts.
It has been argued that cobalt will be one of the main objects of geopolitical competition in a world running on renewable energy and dependent on batteries, but this perspective has also been criticised for underestimating the power of economic incentives for expanded production.
Occurrence
The stable form of cobalt is produced in
supernovae
A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion. The original ob ...
through the
r-process
In nuclear astrophysics, the rapid neutron-capture process, also known as the ''r''-process, is a set of nuclear reactions that is responsible for nucleosynthesis, the creation of approximately half of the Atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei Heavy meta ...
. It comprises
0.0029% of the Earth's crust. Except as recently delivered in meteoric iron, free cobalt (the
native metal
A native metal is any metal that is found pure in its metallic form in nature. Metals that can be found as native element mineral, native deposits singly or in alloys include antimony, arsenic, bismuth, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, indium, iron, ma ...
) is not found on Earth's surface because of its tendency to react with oxygen in the atmosphere. Small amounts of cobalt compounds are found in most rocks, soils, plants, and animals. In the ocean cobalt typically reacts with chlorine.
In nature, cobalt is frequently associated with
nickel. Both are characteristic components of
meteoric iron
Meteoric iron, sometimes meteoritic iron, is a native metal and early-universe protoplanetary-disk remnant found in meteorites and made from the elements iron and nickel, mainly in the form of the mineral phases kamacite and taenite. Meteoric ...
, though cobalt is much less abundant in iron meteorites than nickel. As with nickel, cobalt in meteoric iron
alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...
s may have been well enough protected from oxygen and moisture to remain as the free (but alloyed) metal.
Cobalt in compound form occurs in copper and nickel minerals. It is the major metallic component that combines with
sulfur
Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...
and arsenic in the sulfidic
cobaltite (CoAsS),
safflorite (CoAs
2),
glaucodot (), and
skutterudite (CoAs
3) minerals.
The mineral
cattierite is similar to
pyrite and occurs together with
vaesite in the copper deposits of
Katanga Province.
When it reaches the atmosphere,
weathering occurs; the sulfide minerals oxidize and form pink
erythrite ("cobalt glance":
Co3(AsO4)2·8H2O) and
spherocobaltite (CoCO
3).
Cobalt is also a constituent of
tobacco smoke.
The
tobacco plant readily absorbs and accumulates
heavy metals like cobalt from the surrounding soil in its leaves. These are subsequently inhaled during
tobacco smoking.
Production

The main ores of cobalt are
cobaltite,
erythrite,
glaucodot and
skutterudite (see above), but most cobalt is obtained by reducing the cobalt
by-product
A by-product or byproduct is a secondary product derived from a production process, manufacturing process or chemical reaction; it is not the primary product or service being produced.
A by-product can be useful and marketable or it can be cons ...
s of nickel and copper mining and
smelting
Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...
.
Since cobalt is generally produced as a by-product, the supply of cobalt depends to a great extent on the economic feasibility of copper and nickel mining in a given market. Demand for cobalt was projected to grow 6% in 2017.
Primary cobalt deposits are rare, such as those occurring in
hydrothermal deposits, associated with
ultramafic rocks, typified by the Bou-Azzer district of
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
. At such locations, cobalt ores are mined exclusively, albeit at a lower concentration, and thus require more downstream processing for cobalt extraction.
Several methods exist to separate cobalt from copper and nickel, depending on the concentration of cobalt and the exact composition of the used ore. One method is
froth flotation, in which
surfactant
Surfactants are chemical compounds that decrease the surface tension or interfacial tension between two liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid. The word ''surfactant'' is a Blend word, blend of "surface-active agent",
coined in ...
s bind to ore components, leading to an enrichment of cobalt ores. Subsequent
roasting converts the ores to
cobalt sulfate, and the copper and the iron are oxidized to the oxide.
Leaching with water extracts the sulfate together with the
arsenates. The residues are further leached with
sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...
, yielding a solution of copper sulfate. Cobalt can also be leached from the
slag of copper smelting.
The products of the above-mentioned processes are transformed into the cobalt oxide (Co
3O
4). This oxide is reduced to metal by the
aluminothermic reaction or reduction with carbon in a
blast furnace.
Extraction
The
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...
estimates world reserves of cobalt at 7,100,000 metric tons.
[
] The
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
(DRC) currently produces 63% of the world's cobalt. This market share may reach 73% by 2025 if planned expansions by mining producers like
Glencore
Glencore plc is an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas headquarters are in London, London, England as well a ...
Plc take place as expected.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance has estimated that by 2030, global demand for cobalt could be 47 times more than it was in 2017.
Democratic Republic of the Congo

Changes that Congo made to mining laws in 2002 attracted new investments in Congolese copper and cobalt projects.
[ In 2005, the top producer of cobalt was the copper deposits in the ]Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
's Katanga Province. Formerly Shaba province, the area had almost 40% of global reserves, reported the British Geological Survey
The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance Earth science, geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. ...
in 2009.
The Mukondo Mountain project, operated by the Central African Mining and Exploration Company (CAMEC) in Katanga Province, may be the richest cobalt reserve in the world. It produced an estimated one-third of the total global cobalt production in 2008. In July 2009, CAMEC announced a long-term agreement to deliver its entire annual production of cobalt concentrate from Mukondo Mountain to Zhejiang Galico Cobalt & Nickel Materials of China.
In 2016, Chinese ownership of cobalt production in the Congo was estimated at over 10% of global cobalt supply, forming a key input to the Chinese cobalt refining industry and granting China substantial influence over the global cobalt supply chain. Chinese control of Congolese cobalt has raised concern in Western nations which have sought to reduce supply chain reliance upon China and have expressed concern regarding labor and human rights violations in cobalt mines in the DRC.
Glencore's Mutanda Mine shipped 24,500 tons of cobalt in 2016, 40% of Congo DRC's output and nearly a quarter of global production. After oversupply, Glencore closed Mutanda for two years in late 2019. Glencore's Katanga Mining project is resuming as well and should produce 300,000 tons of copper and 20,000 tons of cobalt by 2019, according to Glencore.
In February 2018, global asset management firm AllianceBernstein
AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (AB) is a global asset management firm providing investment management and research services worldwide to institutional, high-net-worth and Investor, retail investors.
AllianceBernstein's headquarters are located ...
defined the DRC as economically "the Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
of the electric vehicle age", due to its cobalt resources, as essential to the lithium-ion batteries that drive electric vehicle
An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...
s.
On 9 March 2018, President Joseph Kabila updated the 2002 mining code, increasing royalty charges and declaring cobalt and coltan "strategic metals". The 2002 mining code was effectively updated on 4 December 2018.
In February 2025, the DRC implemented a four-month suspension of cobalt exports, citing an oversupply of the metal amid a price decline to its lowest level in 21 years. Cobalt, a key byproduct of copper mining, is an essential material in battery technology. The DRC accounts for approximately 75 percent of the global supply. Within the country, the China Molybdenum Company (CMOC) dominates the industry, contributing roughly 40 percent of the world's cobalt production. Over the past year, CMOC has significantly increased its output, doubling production from two of its mines in the DRC from 56,000 tonnes to 114,000 tonnes.
Labor conditions
Artisanal mining supplied 17% to 40% of the DRC production as of 2016. Some 100,000 cobalt miners in Congo DRC use hand tools to dig hundreds of feet, with little planning and fewer safety measures, say workers and government and NGO officials, as well as ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' reporters' observations on visits to isolated mines. The lack of safety precautions frequently causes injuries or death. Mining pollutes the vicinity and exposes local wildlife and indigenous communities to toxic metals thought to cause birth defects and breathing difficulties, according to health officials.
Child labor is used in mining cobalt from African artisanal mines. Human rights activists have highlighted this and investigative journalism reporting has confirmed it. This revelation prompted cell phone maker Apple Inc., on 3 March 2017, to stop buying ore from suppliers such as Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt who source from artisanal mines in the DRC, and begin using only suppliers that are verified to meet its workplace standards. In 2023, Apple announced it would convert to using recycled cobalt by 2025.
There is a push globally by the EU and major car manufacturers (OEM) for global production of cobalt to be sourced and –produced sustainably, responsibly and traceability of the supply chain. Mining companies are adopting and practising ESG initiatives in line with OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
Guidance and putting in place evidence of zero to low carbon footprint activities in the supply chain production of lithium-ion batteries. These initiatives are already taking place with major mining companies, artisanal and small-scale mining companies (ASM). Car manufacturers and battery manufacturer supply chains: Tesla, VW, BMW, BASF and Glencore are participating in several initiatives, such as the Responsible Cobalt Initiative and Cobalt for Development study. In 2018 BMW Group in partnership with BASF, Samsung SDI and Samsung Electronics have launched a pilot project in the DRC over one pilot mine, to improve conditions and address challenges for artisanal miners and the surrounding communities.
The political and ethnic dynamics of the region have in the past caused outbreaks of violence and years of armed conflict and displaced populations. This instability affected the price of cobalt and also created perverse incentives for the combatants in the First and Second Congo Wars to prolong the fighting, since access to diamond mines and other valuable resources helped to finance their military goals—which frequently amounted to genocide—and also enriched the fighters themselves. While DR Congo has in the 2010s not recently been invaded by neighboring military forces, some of the richest mineral deposits adjoin areas where Tutsis and Hutus still frequently clash, unrest continues although on a smaller scale and refugees still flee outbreaks of violence.
Cobalt extracted from small Congolese artisanal mining endeavors in 2007 supplied a single Chinese company, Congo DongFang International Mining. A subsidiary of Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, one of the world's largest cobalt producers, Congo DongFang supplied cobalt to some of the world's largest battery manufacturers, who produced batteries for ubiquitous products like the Apple iPhone
The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
s. Because of accused labour violations and environmental concerns, LG Chem
LG Chem Ltd. ( Korean: LG화학), often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It was the 9th largest chemical company in the world by sales in 2021. It was first established ...
subsequently audited Congo DongFang in accordance with OECD guidelines. LG Chem, which also produces battery materials for car companies, imposed a code of conduct on all suppliers that it inspects.
In December 2019, International Rights Advocates, a human rights NGO, filed a landmark lawsuit against Apple, Tesla, Dell
Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...
, Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
and Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
company Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...
for "knowingly benefiting from and aiding and abetting the cruel and brutal use of young children" in mining cobalt. The companies in question denied their involvement in child labour
Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation w ...
. In 2024 the court ruled that the suppliers facilitate force labor but the US tech companies are not liable because they don't operate as a shared enterprise with the suppliers and that the "alleged injuries are not fairly traceable" to any of the defendants' conduct. The book ''Cobalt Red'' alleges that workers including children suffer injuries, amputations, and death as the result of the hazardous working conditions and mine tunnel collapses during artisanal mining of cobalt in the DRC.
Since child and slave labor have been repeatedly reported in cobalt mining, primarily in the artisanal mines of DR Congo, technology companies seeking an ethical supply chain have faced shortages of this raw material and the price of cobalt metal reached a nine-year high in October 2017, more than US$30 a pound, versus US$10 in late 2015. After oversupply, the price dropped to a more normal $15 in 2019. As a reaction to the issues with artisanal cobalt mining in DR Congo a number of cobalt suppliers and their customers have formed the Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA) which aims to end the use of child labor and to improve the working conditions of cobalt mining and processing in the DR Congo. Members of FCA include Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Sono Motors, the Responsible Cobalt Initiative, Fairphone, Glencore
Glencore plc is an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas headquarters are in London, London, England as well a ...
and Tesla, Inc.
Canada
In 2017, some exploration companies were planning to survey old silver and cobalt mines in the area of Cobalt, Ontario, where significant deposits are believed to lie.
Cobalt mined in Canada is a by-product of nickel mining. Even so, in 2023 the country produced more than 5,000 tons of cobalt (43% is mined in Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...
, the rest in Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Manitoba
Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...
and Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
). Exports of cobalt and cobalt products totaled $568 million in 2023.
Cuba
Canada's Sherritt International processes cobalt ores in nickel deposits from the Moa mines in Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
, and the island has several others mines in Mayarí
Mayarí is a municipality and town in the Holguín Province of Cuba.
History
The origins of the city date back to 1757 in Spanish Cuba, when the first farms were established here by immigrant colonists. On 19 January 1879 the city became the se ...
, Camagüey, and Pinar del Río. Continued investments by Sherritt International in Cuban nickel and cobalt production while acquiring mining rights for 17–20 years made the communist country third for cobalt reserves in 2019, before Canada itself.
Indonesia
Starting from smaller amounts in 2021, Indonesia began producing cobalt as a byproduct of nickel production. By 2022, the country had become the world's second-largest cobalt producer, with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence forecasting Indonesian output to make up 20 percent of global production by 2030. Cobalt production increased from 1,300 tons to 20,500 tons between 2015 and 2024 due to the Indonesian government's strategic initiative to develop a robust domestic supply chain
A supply chain is a complex logistics system that consists of facilities that convert raw materials into finished products and distribute them to end consumers or end customers, while supply chain management deals with the flow of goods in distri ...
for electric vehicle
An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...
s. An export ban in 2020 has ensured an influx of foreign investment in nickel and cobalt processing in the country.
Applications
In 2016, of cobalt was used. Cobalt has been used in the production of high-performance alloys. It is also used in some rechargeable batteries.
Alloys
Cobalt-based superalloys have historically consumed most of the cobalt produced. The temperature stability of these alloys makes them suitable for turbine blades for gas turbine
A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...
s and aircraft jet engine
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...
s, although nickel-based single-crystal alloys surpass them in performance. Cobalt-based alloys are also corrosion
Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engine ...
- and wear-resistant, making them, like titanium
Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...
, useful for making orthopedic implants that do not wear down over time. The development of wear-resistant cobalt alloys started in the first decade of the 20th century with the stellite alloys, containing chromium with varying quantities of tungsten and carbon. Alloys with chromium and tungsten carbides are very hard and wear-resistant. Special cobalt-chromium-molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...
alloys like Vitallium are used for prosthetic parts (hip and knee replacements). Cobalt alloys are also used for dental prosthetics as a useful substitute for nickel, which may be allergenic. Some high-speed steels also contain cobalt for increased heat and wear resistance. The special alloys of aluminium, nickel, cobalt and iron, known as Alnico, and of samarium and cobalt ( samarium–cobalt magnet) are used in permanent magnets
Permanent may refer to:
Art and entertainment
* ''Permanent'' (film), a 2017 American film
* ''Permanent'' (Joy Division album)
* "Permanent" (song), by David Cook
*"Permanent", a song by Alex Lahey from '' The Answer Is Always Yes'', 2023
Other ...
. It is also alloyed with 95% platinum
Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...
for jewelry, yielding an alloy suitable for fine casting, which is also slightly magnetic.
Batteries
Lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2, aka "LCO"), first sold commercially in 1991 by Sony, was widely used in lithium-ion battery
A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energ ...
cathodes until the 2010s. The material is composed of cobalt oxide layers with the lithium intercalated. These LCO batteries continue to dominate the market for consumer electronics. Batteries for electric cars however have shifted to lower cobalt technologies.
In 2018 most cobalt in batteries was used in a mobile device, a more recent application for cobalt is rechargeable batteries for electric cars. This industry increased five-fold in its demand for cobalt from 2016 to 2020, which made it urgent to find new raw materials in more stable areas of the world. Demand is expected to continue or increase as the prevalence of electric vehicles increases. Exploration in 2016–2017 included the area around Cobalt, Ontario, an area where many silver mines ceased operation decades ago. Cobalt for electric vehicles increased 81% from the first half of 2018 to 7,200 tonnes in the first half of 2019, for a battery capacity of 46.3 GWh.
As of August 2020 battery makers have gradually reduced the cathode cobalt content from 1/3 ( NMC 111) to 1/5 (NMC 442) to currently 1/10 (NMC 811) and have also introduced the cobalt free lithium iron phosphate cathode into the battery packs of electric cars such as the Tesla Model 3.
Research was also conducted by the European Union into the possibility of eliminating cobalt requirements in lithium-ion battery production.
In September 2020, Tesla outlined their plans to make their own, cobalt-free battery cells.
Nickel–cadmium (NiCd) and nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries also included cobalt to improve the oxidation of nickel in the battery.
Lithium iron phosphate batteries officially surpassed ternary cobalt batteries in 2021 with 52% of installed capacity. Analysts estimate that its market share will exceed 60% in 2024.
Catalysts
Several cobalt compounds are oxidation catalysts
Catalysis () is the increase in reaction rate, rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst ...
. Cobalt acetate is used to convert xylene to terephthalic acid, the precursor of the bulk polymer polyethylene terephthalate. Typical catalysts are the cobalt carboxylates (known as cobalt soaps). They are also used in paints, varnishes, and inks as "drying agents" through the oxidation of drying oils. However, their use is being phased out due to toxicity concerns. The same carboxylates are used to improve the adhesion between steel and rubber in steel-belted radial tires. In addition they are used as accelerators in polyester resin systems.
Cobalt-based catalysts are used in reactions involving carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a poisonous, flammable gas that is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the si ...
. Cobalt is also a catalyst in the Fischer–Tropsch process for the hydrogenation
Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to redox, reduce or Saturated ...
of carbon monoxide into liquid fuels. Hydroformylation
In organic chemistry, hydroformylation, also known as oxo synthesis or oxo process, is an industrial process for the production of aldehydes () from alkenes (). This chemical reaction entails the net addition of a formyl group () and a hydrogen ...
of alkenes often uses cobalt octacarbonyl as a catalyst. The hydrodesulfurization of petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...
uses a catalyst derived from cobalt and molybdenum. This process helps to clean petroleum of sulfur impurities that interfere with the refining of liquid fuels.
Pigments and coloring
Before the 19th century, cobalt was predominantly used as a pigment. It has been used since the Middle Ages to make smalt, a blue-colored glass. Smalt is produced by melting a mixture of roasted mineral smaltite, quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...
and potassium carbonate, which yields a dark blue silicate glass, which is finely ground after the production. Smalt was widely used to color glass and as pigment for paintings. In 1780, Sven Rinman discovered cobalt green, and in 1802 Louis Jacques Thénard discovered cobalt blue. Cobalt pigments such as cobalt blue (cobalt aluminate), cerulean blue (cobalt(II) stannate), various hues of cobalt green (a mixture of cobalt(II) oxide and zinc oxide
Zinc oxide is an inorganic compound with the Chemical formula, formula . It is a white powder which is insoluble in water. ZnO is used as an additive in numerous materials and products including cosmetics, Zinc metabolism, food supplements, rubbe ...
), and cobalt violet ( cobalt phosphate) are used as artist's pigments because of their superior chromatic stability.
Radioisotopes
Cobalt-60 (Co-60 or 60Co) is useful as a gamma-ray source because it can be produced in predictable amounts with high activity by bombarding cobalt with neutron
The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , that has no electric charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. The Discovery of the neutron, neutron was discovered by James Chadwick in 1932, leading to the discovery of nucle ...
s. It produces gamma ray
A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol ), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from high energy interactions like the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei or astronomical events like solar flares. It consists o ...
s with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV.
Cobalt is used in external beam radiotherapy, sterilization of medical supplies and medical waste, radiation treatment of foods for sterilization (cold pasteurization
In food processing, pasteurization (American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), also pasteurisation) is a process of food preservation in which packaged foods (e.g., milk and fruit juices) are treated wi ...
), industrial radiography (e.g. weld integrity radiographs), density measurements (e.g. concrete density measurements), and tank fill height switches. The metal has the unfortunate property of producing a fine dust, causing problems with radiation protection
Radiation protection, also known as radiological protection, is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The protection of people from harmful effects of exposure to ionizing radiation, and the means for achieving this". Exposu ...
. Cobalt from radiotherapy machines has been a serious hazard when not discarded properly, and one of the worst radiation contamination accidents in North America occurred in 1984, when a discarded radiotherapy unit containing cobalt-60 was mistakenly disassembled in a junkyard in Juarez, Mexico.
Cobalt-60 has a radioactive half-life of 5.27 years. Loss of potency requires periodic replacement of the source in radiotherapy and is one reason why cobalt machines have been largely replaced by linear accelerators in modern radiation therapy. Cobalt-57 (Co-57 or 57Co) is a cobalt radioisotope most often used in medical tests, as a radiolabel for vitamin B uptake, and for the Schilling test. Cobalt-57 is used as a source in Mössbauer spectroscopy and is one of several possible sources in X-ray fluorescence devices.
Nuclear weapon design
Nuclear weapons design are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate. There are three existing basic design types:
# Pure fission weapons are the simplest, least technically de ...
s could intentionally incorporate 59Co, some of which would be activated in a nuclear explosion to produce 60Co. The 60Co, dispersed as nuclear fallout
Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the mushroom cloud, radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is ...
, is sometimes called a cobalt bomb.
Magnetic materials
Due to the ferromagnetic properties of cobalt, it is used in the production of various magnetic materials. It is used in creating permanent magnets like Alnico magnets, known for their strong magnetic properties used in electric motors, sensors, and MRI machines. It is also used in production of magnetic alloys like cobalt steel, widely used in magnetic recording
Magnetic storage or magnetic recording is the storage of data on a magnetized medium. Magnetic storage uses different patterns of magnetisation in a magnetizable material to store data and is a form of non-volatile memory. The information is ...
media such as hard disks and tapes.
Cobalt's ability to maintain magnetic properties at high temperatures makes it valuable in magnetic recording applications, ensuring reliable data storage devices. Cobalt also contributes to specialized magnets such as samarium-cobalt and neodymium-iron-boron magnets, which are vital in electronics for components like sensors and actuators.
Other uses
* Cobalt is used in electroplating
Electroplating, also known as electrochemical deposition or electrodeposition, is a process for producing a metal coating on a solid substrate through the redox, reduction of cations of that metal by means of a direct current, direct electric cur ...
for its attractive appearance, hardness, and resistance to oxidation.
* It is also used as a base primer coat for porcelain
Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
enamels.
Biological role
Cobalt is essential to the metabolism
Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the co ...
of all animals. It is a key constituent of cobalamin
Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. One of eight B vitamins, it serves as a vital cofactor (biochemistry), cofactor in DNA synthesis and both fatty acid metabolism, fatty acid and amino a ...
, also known as vitamin B, the primary biological reservoir of cobalt as an ultratrace element. Bacteria
Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...
in the stomachs of ruminant
Ruminants are herbivorous grazing or browsing artiodactyls belonging to the suborder Ruminantia that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microb ...
animals convert cobalt salts into vitamin B, a compound which can only be produced by bacteria or archaea
Archaea ( ) is a Domain (biology), domain of organisms. Traditionally, Archaea only included its Prokaryote, prokaryotic members, but this has since been found to be paraphyletic, as eukaryotes are known to have evolved from archaea. Even thou ...
. A minimal presence of cobalt in soils therefore markedly improves the health of grazing
In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...
animals, and an uptake of 0.20 mg/kg a day is recommended, because they have no other source of vitamin B.
Proteins based on cobalamin use corrin to hold the cobalt. Coenzyme B12 features a reactive C-Co bond that participates in the reactions. In humans, B12 has two types of Alkane, alkyl ligand: Methyl group, methyl and adenosyl. Methylcobalamin, MeB12 promotes methyl (−CH3) group transfers. The adenosyl version of B12 catalyzes rearrangements in which a hydrogen atom is directly transferred between two adjacent atoms with concomitant exchange of the second substituent, X, which may be a carbon atom with substituents, an oxygen atom of an alcohol, or an amine. Methylmalonyl coenzyme A mutase (MUT) converts L-methylmalonyl-CoA, MMl-CoA to succinyl-CoA, Su-CoA, an important step in the extraction of energy from proteins and fats.
Although far less common than other metalloproteins (e.g. those of zinc and iron), other cobaltoproteins are known besides B12. These proteins include METAP2, methionine aminopeptidase 2, an enzyme that occurs in humans and other mammals that does not use the corrin ring of B12, but binds cobalt directly. Another non-corrin cobalt enzyme is nitrile hydratase, an enzyme in bacteria that metabolizes nitriles.
Cobalt deficiency
In humans, consumption of cobalt-containing vitamin B12 meets all needs for cobalt. For cattle and sheep, which meet vitamin B12 needs via synthesis by resident bacteria in the rumen, there is a function for inorganic cobalt. In the early 20th century, during the development of farming on the North Island Volcanic Plateau of New Zealand, cattle suffered from what was termed "bush sickness". It was discovered that the volcanic soils lacked the cobalt salts essential for the cattle food chain. The "coast disease" of sheep in the Ninety Mile Desert of the Limestone Coast, Southeast of South Australia in the 1930s was found to originate in nutritional deficiencies of trace elements cobalt and copper. The cobalt deficiency was overcome by the development of "cobalt bullets", dense pellets of cobalt oxide mixed with clay given orally for lodging in the animal's rumen.
File:Cobalamin.svg , alt=chemical diagram of cobalamin molecule, Cobalamin
File:CSIRO ScienceImage 10487 Cobalt deficient sheep.jpg , alt=two cobalt-deficient sheep facing away from camera, Cobalt-deficient sheep
Health issues
The Median lethal dose, LD50 value for soluble cobalt salts has been estimated to be between 150 and 500 mg/kg.[Donaldson, John D. and Beyersmann, Detmar (2005) "Cobalt and Cobalt Compounds" in ''Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry'', Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. ] In the US, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has designated a permissible exposure limit (PEL) in the workplace as a time-weighted average (TWA) of 0.1 mg/m3. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit (REL) of 0.05 mg/m3, time-weighted average. The IDLH (immediately dangerous to life and health) value is 20 mg/m3.
However, chronic cobalt ingestion has caused serious health problems at doses far less than the lethal dose. In 1966, the addition of cobalt compounds to stabilize beer foam in Canada led to a peculiar form of toxin-induced cardiomyopathy, which came to be known as ''beer drinker's cardiomyopathy''.
Furthermore, cobalt metal is suspected of causing cancer (i.e., possibly carcinogenic, IARC Group 2B) as per the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs.
It causes respiratory problems when inhaled. It also causes skin problems when touched; after nickel and chromium, cobalt is a major cause of Allergic contact dermatitis, contact dermatitis.
Notes
References
Further reading
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External links
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Cobalt
at ''The Periodic Table of Videos'' (University of Nottingham)
Centers for Disease and Prevention – Cobalt
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