Did you know that Indonesia is the second-largest Cobalt producer in the world? This element is very important in the electric vehicle ecosystem and is needed as a raw material in electric battery production.
Reporting from DataIndonesia, Wednesday (15/2/2023) based on data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Democratic Republic of Congo will become the largest cobalt producer in the world in 2022. The second largest country in Africa has production of 130,000 tons throughout the year Then.
Indonesia followed its position with the production of 10,000 tons last year. Then, cobalt production in Russia is 8,900 tons.
Australia produces 5,900 tonnes of cobalt. Then, Canada’s production was recorded at 3,900 tons. Cuba and the Philippines both produce 3,800 tonnes.
Meanwhile, the production in Papua New Guinea and Madagascar is 3,000 tons each. In addition to production, Congo also has the world’s largest cobalt reserves in 2022, namely 4 million tons.
Then, Australia and Indonesia have cobalt reserves of 1.5 million tons and 600,000 tons respectively.
Recently, Indonesia has expressed its desire to beat Kango to become the world’s largest producer of cobalt.
The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Kemenko Marves) projects that the domestic production can touch in the range of 15,000 tons to 20,000 tons by the end of 2023.
Deputy for Investment and Mining at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Septian Hario Seto, said that the surge in production of raw materials for electric vehicle batteries was driven by the massive processing capacity of the High-Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) factory over the past two years.
Seto added that Indonesia’s cobalt production growth would be higher than Congo’s current potential. He ensured that domestic production would surpass Congo’s figure in the next 2-3 years.
