Australian Cobalt Companies: 8 Projects Compared

Australia has two cobalt mines still running and a long list of projects that are waiting for a better cobalt price. The USGS estimates Australian mine output at 3,700 tonnes of cobalt in 2025, down from 4,780 tonnes in 2024, and puts Australian cobalt reserves at 1.7 million tonnes, the second largest in the world after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, February 2026). Cobalt is mostly a by-product of nickel and copper, so the companies below are nickel miners, refiners and developers as much as cobalt specialists.

This guide compares eight companies that hold a cobalt-bearing asset in Australia, with a “best for” line, honest pros and cons, and a status check dated October 2026. It then shows how much cobalt each project holds, how the cobalt price and the DRC export quotas affect them, and a calculator for the value of cobalt in your own project. Rare earth companies have their own page, linked near the end. This is a factual comparison, not a ranking and not advice.

How we chose these 8 Australian cobalt companies

We included a company when its own website or a filing on the ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) names a cobalt asset in Australia and we could read the current status on a page dated 2026. We left out companies whose cobalt asset is outside Australia and companies we could not confirm in a 2026 source.

• Order: producing companies first, then developers. The order is not a ranking, because a refinery developer and a mine operator are not measured on the same scale.
• Cobalt figures: we quote a resource (metal in the ground, estimated under the JORC Code, Australia’s reporting standard) only as the company reports it, and we say when a figure is a reserve, which is the part of a resource that is economic to mine.
• Status: each status line names its source and month. Mining status changes fast in this sector, so confirm against the latest ASX announcement before you rely on it.
• Not covered: the list is not exhaustive. Smaller explorers and projects held in care and maintenance (mine closed but kept ready to restart) are not all included.

One correction to older lists: the company that articles call “Clean TeQ” changed its name and ticker and is now Sunrise Energy Metals (ASX: SRL).

Australian cobalt at a glance: output, reserves and market share

Australia holds a large share of the world’s reserves but a small share of its output. With 3,700 tonnes of mine production in 2025 out of a world total of 310,000 tonnes, Australia supplied roughly 1% of mined cobalt, while the 1.7 million tonne reserve is about 14% of the 12 million tonne world total (USGS, February 2026; shares are our arithmetic on the USGS table). The DRC produced about 230,000 tonnes and Indonesia 44,000 tonnes. The Cobalt Institute puts total cobalt demand at 276,000 tonnes in 2025 and supply at 295,000 tonnes, with the DRC at 73% of mined supply (Cobalt Institute, Cobalt Market Report 2025, May 2026).

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Cobalt mine production: Australia and Cuba fell, Madagascar rose

Tonnes of cobalt in 2024 and 2025 (estimate); selected mid-size producers, not all countries

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Cobalt reserves by country

Thousand tonnes of cobalt; selected countries

Why is Australian output so low compared with its reserves? Most Australian cobalt sits in nickel laterite (a soil-like ore formed by deep weathering) and in nickel-sulphide mines, and the nickel price fell sharply. The Cobalt Institute notes that low prices at the end of 2024 took producers offline, including BHP’s Nickel West in December 2024, which left Glencore’s Murrin Murrin and IGO’s Nova as the only operating Australian cobalt mines at that point.

Australian cobalt companies compared

1. Glencore: Murrin Murrin, Western Australia

Best for: readers who want the one established Australian cobalt producer with a battery customer.

Murrin Murrin is a nickel and cobalt operation in the north-eastern Goldfields. Glencore mines laterite ore in open pits and refines it at a hydrometallurgical plant (a plant that dissolves metals in water-based solutions). Glencore reports 40,400 tonnes of nickel and 3,300 tonnes of cobalt in 2022, including third-party material it processes (Glencore Australia). Glencore calls it Australia’s largest cobalt producer and agreed a multi-year cobalt supply deal with General Motors for its Ultium battery cathodes (Glencore Australia). Group nickel output fell 7% in 2025, partly on lower Murrin Murrin output (Glencore full-year 2025 production report), and in August 2026 Glencore recorded a US$457 million pre-tax impairment against the operation (Australian Mining Review, 6 August 2026).

• Pros: running plant, existing offtake with a US carmaker, large nickel base.
• Cons: cobalt is a by-product of nickel, so the nickel price drives the economics; the impairment shows the pressure.

2. IGO: Nova, Western Australia

Best for: understanding how a cobalt-bearing nickel mine ends its life.

Nova, in the Fraser Range, began commercial production in July 2017 and is expected to reach the end of its life in late 2026. In July 2026 IGO signed a binding agreement to sell the Nova assets to Global Lithium Resources (ASX: GL1), with completion targeted for 30 November 2026, so the plant can be repurposed for the Manna lithium project (IGO, Nova Nickel Operation). The Cobalt Institute counted Nova as one of two operating Australian cobalt mines after Nickel West stopped.

• Pros: a clear end-of-life plan and a second use for the plant.
• Cons: a short remaining mine life, so it will drop out of Australian cobalt supply after 2026.

3. BHP: Nickel West, Western Australia

Best for: tracking the largest idled source of Australian nickel and by-product cobalt.

BHP said in July 2024 that its Western Australia nickel business would be suspended from October of that year until at least February 2027, when it would review the decision, and that it would keep investing in the facilities to allow a restart. In its annual report in August 2026, BHP said the review is assessing a possible sale of the Western Australia nickel assets, against continued suspension, restart or closure (ABC News, 20 August 2026, quoting the BHP annual report; earlier: The Nightly, 11 July 2024). The decision is due by February 2027; check BHP’s latest results for any change.

• Pros: intact infrastructure that could restart if nickel recovers.
• Cons: no output today; the restart decision depends on the nickel price, not cobalt.

4. Cobalt Blue Holdings (ASX: COB): Kwinana refinery and Broken Hill

Best for: the most cobalt-specific story: a planned refinery plus a primary cobalt deposit.

Cobalt Blue describes the Kwinana Cobalt Refinery as a planned source of battery-grade cobalt sulphate and strategic cobalt metal, and calls Broken Hill the largest undeveloped primary cobalt resource in Australia (company website, a company claim). In its March 2026 quarterly report the company said letters of intent from buyers in the US, Japan and France cover about 70% of initial production capacity, its cobalt sulphate met a pCAM (precursor cathode active material) specification, a Broken Hill pre-feasibility study targets completion in Q4 2026, and cash was A$5.6 million, about 5.1 quarters of funding (COB quarterly report, 29 April 2026). Letters of intent are not binding contracts.

• Pros: pure cobalt focus; offtake interest from three countries; a tested product.
• Cons: no final investment decision, small cash balance, and financing still has to be raised.

5. Ardea Resources (ASX: ARL): Goongarrie Hub, Western Australia

Best for: the biggest nickel-cobalt resource in Australia by Ardea’s own description.

Ardea reports a JORC 2012 resource for its Kalgoorlie Nickel Project of 854 million tonnes at 0.71% nickel and 0.045% cobalt, with 386,000 tonnes of contained cobalt. The Goongarrie Hub inside it holds 584 million tonnes at 0.043% cobalt for 250,000 tonnes of cobalt, which Ardea describes as the largest nickel-cobalt resource in Australia. Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Corporation are funding the A$98.5 million definitive feasibility study, and Ardea reports conditional support of about A$1 billion from Export Finance Australia and US EXIM (Ardea Resources, read October 2026).

• Pros: very large resource; Japanese partners; government-backed finance interest.
• Cons: low grade (0.045% cobalt), no mine yet, and a feasibility study that is not yet complete.

6. Sunrise Energy Metals (ASX: SRL): Sunrise Nickel-Cobalt, New South Wales

Best for: a large, higher-grade laterite cobalt resource with a decision pending.

Sunrise reports a resource of 180 million tonnes at 0.53% nickel and 0.10% cobalt, with 170,000 tonnes of contained cobalt, and says a development decision awaits improved nickel and cobalt markets (Sunrise project page). The company’s current priority is scandium at Syerston, where the US Office of Strategic Capital gave a conditional commitment of up to US$400 million in August 2026 (ASX announcement, 10 August 2026). That commitment is for scandium, not cobalt.

• Pros: 0.10% cobalt grade is more than double Ardea’s; 89% of the resource is in the measured and indicated categories.
• Cons: cobalt is not the near-term focus and no development date is set.

7. Australian Mines (ASX: AUZ): Sconi, Queensland

Best for: a permitted project with a named battery offtaker.

Sconi is a nickel-cobalt-scandium laterite project near Greenvale, 220 km north-west of Townsville. Its mining lease was granted in July 2023 for 25 years, the reserve is 33.89 million tonnes at 0.67% nickel and 0.10% cobalt, and LG Energy Solution agreed in 2021 to buy 71,000 dry tonnes of nickel and 7,000 dry tonnes of cobalt as mixed hydroxide over an initial six years (Mining Technology, based on the 2018 feasibility study). The company now describes a portfolio that leads with gold exploration in Brazil and also includes Sconi and the Flemington scandium deposit (Australian Mines). The feasibility study is from 2018, so its cost and price assumptions are old.

• Pros: mining lease in hand; defined reserve; offtake agreement.
• Cons: old study, no announced construction date, and the company’s attention is spread across several projects.

8. QPM Energy (Queensland Pacific Metals, ASX: QPM): Townsville refinery

Best for: a processing-only play that does not need an Australian mine.

The Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub is a planned refinery that would process laterite ore imported from New Caledonia into nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate and high-purity alumina. QPM lists a nameplate of 16,000 tonnes of nickel and 1,850 tonnes of cobalt a year, says offtake covers all nickel and cobalt sales for the life of the project, and names General Motors, LG Energy Solution and POSCO as both offtake partners and shareholders. Its feasibility study is still being completed and debt financing due diligence is ongoing (QPM website, read October 2026).

• Pros: full offtake cover, big-name customers, port and rail access near Townsville.
• Cons: relies on imported ore, has no financing yet, and its website now trades under the name QPM Energy Limited.

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How much cobalt is in each Australian project?

Resources are not the same as production. The chart shows company-reported contained cobalt. The Goongarrie Hub is part of Ardea’s larger Kalgoorlie figure, so the two bars overlap. Sconi is a reserve, calculated by us as 33.89 million tonnes times 0.10% cobalt, so it is not directly comparable with the resource figures. A resource that is large but low grade can still be uneconomic, which is why grade and processing route matter more than the headline tonnage.

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Contained cobalt reported by company

Thousand tonnes; Goongarrie is part of the Ardea total; Sconi is a reserve, the rest are resources

Cobalt price and DRC quotas: why Australian projects wait

The USGS gives the average US spot price for cobalt cathode as US$24.21 a pound in 2021, US$30.78 in 2022, US$17.20 in 2023, US$16.77 in 2024 and about US$21 in 2025 (estimate), with the LME cash price at about US$15 in 2025. The Cobalt Institute reports that hydroxide prices delivered to China fell as low as US$5.60 a pound in February 2025, then rose after the DRC banned cobalt exports on 22 February 2025 and moved to quotas in October 2025. The DRC set a 2026 export quota of 87,000 tonnes of cobalt plus a 9,600 tonne strategic quota, running to the end of 2027.

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Cobalt price, annual average

US dollars per pound; 2025 is an estimate

On 14 October 2026 Trading Economics showed cobalt at US$39,345 a tonne, about US$17.85 a pound, down 7.9% on a year earlier (Trading Economics, 14 October 2026; a contract-for-difference price, not a physical quote). Higher prices help the Australian developers, but the quotas can end or change, and developers need prices that stay high long enough to repay a refinery. Prices move daily, so use the day’s quote in the calculator below.

How to estimate the cobalt value of a project

A quick screening sum has four steps. Take the tonnes of ore processed in a year, multiply by the cobalt grade, multiply by the share of cobalt the plant recovers, then multiply by the price. Most cobalt is sold as hydroxide, sulphate or metal, and each product is paid at a different share of the metal price, called payability. The calculator below uses your own inputs. It is a screening tool, not a feasibility study: it leaves out nickel revenue, operating cost, capital cost, royalties and tax, which decide whether a project is viable.

What to check before you rely on a company’s cobalt claims

• Resource or reserve: a reserve passed economic tests; a resource may not. Read which one the figure is, and note that companies describe themselves differently: Ardea calls Goongarrie the largest nickel-cobalt resource in Australia, while Sunrise calls its project the largest cobalt deposit outside the DRC.
• Grade and by-product status: cobalt grades in Australian laterites are 0.04% to 0.10% in the company figures above. If nickel carries the project, watch the nickel price too.
• Date of the study: Sconi’s feasibility study is from 2018 and Ardea’s is still in progress. Costs and prices in old studies can be out of date.
• Offtake type: a binding contract is different from a letter of intent.
• Cash and financing: a company with about one year of cash and no final investment decision still has a funding gap to close.
• Environment and approvals: state and federal approvals, tailings plans and water use all affect timing. Mining changes land and water, and a good plan names each impact.

For wider lists of producers, see our guides to the ASX-listed cobalt miners, the biggest cobalt mining companies and mines and cobalt refining companies, and our wider ranking of the top 50 Australian mining companies. For how exploration companies find nickel-cobalt ground, read the nickel, cobalt, graphite and vanadium exploration guide.

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Rare earths: where to look instead

This page is about cobalt. Australia’s rare earth companies, such as Lynas, Iluka and Arafura, are covered in our guide to Australian listed lithium companies and rare earth miners. For the US side of the rare earth supply chain, see the list of US rare earth mining companies, and for the two magnet metals, see neodymium and praseodymium oxide uses. You can also read how rare earth deposits are mapped and explored.

Where satellite data fits in cobalt and nickel exploration

Nickel laterite and cobalt-bearing ground can be screened from space before drilling. Satellite images show weathered ultramafic rock, iron-rich soils and cover, and they help rank large licences before field work. They do not measure cobalt grade: only samples and drilling do that. Farmonaut offers satellite screening reports for mining licences, and a result is an exploration target, not a resource estimate. See also our copper-cobalt case study.

▶ Remote sensing for mining explained in three minutes, without jargon (2:01). · 2:01

Related reading on this site: Silver Mines in Australia: 7 Mines and Projects.

We cover a connected topic in Rare Earth Mining in Australia: Mines, Owners, Costs.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the largest cobalt producer in Australia?

Glencore’s Murrin Murrin operation in Western Australia, which Glencore describes as Australia’s largest cobalt producer; it reported 3,300 tonnes of cobalt in 2022, including third-party material.

How much cobalt does Australia produce?

The USGS estimates 3,700 tonnes in 2025, down from 4,780 tonnes in 2024, out of a world total of about 310,000 tonnes (February 2026).

How much cobalt does Australia have in reserves?

The USGS puts Australian cobalt reserves at 1.7 million tonnes, second only to the DRC at 6 million tonnes.

Which ASX-listed companies have cobalt projects?

Cobalt Blue (ASX: COB), Ardea Resources (ASX: ARL), Sunrise Energy Metals (ASX: SRL), Australian Mines (ASX: AUZ) and QPM Energy (ASX: QPM) hold cobalt projects, and IGO (ASX: IGO) and BHP (ASX: BHP) have operations that produce or produced cobalt as a by-product.

Is there a cobalt refinery in Australia?

Cobalt metal is already refined in Australia: Glencore’s Murrin Murrin plant makes cobalt metal briquettes on site. We found no operating battery-grade cobalt sulphate refinery in the sources we read. Cobalt Blue’s Kwinana refinery and QPM’s Townsville hub are both planned and neither has reached a final investment decision in the sources we read.

Why is Australian cobalt output falling?

Cobalt comes mainly with nickel, and low nickel prices took producers offline from late 2024. Nova ends mining in late 2026 and Nickel West is suspended.

What is cobalt used for?

The Cobalt Institute says batteries are the main driver of demand growth, with electric vehicles at 39% of 276,000 tonnes of demand in 2025, and also superalloys at 20,000 tonnes and defence uses.

Does the DRC export ban affect Australian companies?

Indirectly. The DRC ban and later quotas cut supply to the world market and lifted cobalt prices in 2025, which improves the case for projects outside the DRC.

What does a cobalt project need to go ahead?

A feasibility study, environmental approvals, a mining lease, binding offtake and financing. Most projects in this guide are missing at least one of them.

Where can I check a company’s latest cobalt status?

Read its latest quarterly report and ASX announcements, and check the national Geoscience Australia critical minerals page for the government list of critical minerals.