Swiss mining company Glencore has signed a deal to supply cobalt hydroxide for Umicore’s battery materials operations.
The long-term revolving agreement comes just days after Umicore announced it was expanding with its planned acquisition of Freeport Cobalt’s cobalt refining and cathode precursor activities in Finland.
Financial terms of the Glencore deal were not disclosed, but Umicore said the cobalt would be sourced from Glencore’s industrial mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo— including Glencore’s Mutanda mine. The cobalt units will be shipped to Umicore’s cobalt refineries globally, including Finland, once the acquisition process has been completed.
Umicore said the cobalt sources are “fully compliant” with its sustainable procurement framework for cobalt, which excludes artisanally-mined cobalt from its supply chain, as well as any form of child labour.
“The agreement guarantees Umicore’s security of supply for a substantial part of its longer-term cobalt needs for its expanding global battery materials value chain,” the Belgium-based company said. “The agreement also provides Glencore long-term market access for its cobalt raw materials in line with Umicore’s growing cathode materials sales.”
Umicore CEO Marc Grynberg said the Glencore and Kokkola deals showed the company’s “strong commitment to promote a sustainable battery materials value chain globally”.
In 2018, Chinese battery recycler GEM signed a three-year cobalt materials supply deal with Glencore.
Earlier this year, Germany’s BMW said it would step up its goal of increasing the proportion of recycled cobalt in battery cells— backed by the joint technology consortium it formed in 2018 with Umicore and Swedish lithium-ion start-up Northvolt.
