China Greatpower Jinchuan has initiated production of cobalt sulfate and cobalt chloride at its refinery in the Chinese province of Zhejiang at a time of mounting demand for sulfate despite elevated cobalt prices.
The company expects to start making spot sales from June, a source at the company told Metal Bulletin.The refinery is expected to produce 2,000-2,500 tonnes of cobalt sulfate and chloride in 2018, with production ramping up to 6,000 tonnes per year by the end of the year, according to the source.In addition, the company is expected to start production of nickel sulfate at the refinery during the second half of the year.The company plans to use the nickel and cobalt sulfate produced at the refinery as feedstock for ternary precursor materials, used in the manufacturing of lithium-ion nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs)."The refinery...