Morocco Explores Cobalt Reserves for Rechargeable Battery Production

Cobalt is increasingly in demand because it is involved in the manufacture of rechargeable batteries essential for the operation of phones, electric cars and other electronic devices. According to Abdellah Mouttaqui, secretary general of the ONHYM agency, Morocco has the 11th largest cobalt reserve in the world.

A position revised last year, as the kingdom ranked 9th with 1,900 tons, and plans to increase its cobalt production. This is why ONHYM has started exploring other cobalt reserves in the Siroua region with the Moroccan mining company Managem, which has announced a partnership with the Anglo-Swiss company Glencore for a refining project at the Bou Azzer mine near Marrakech.

According to Mouttaqui, the cobalt from this region is of high purity, unlike that produced elsewhere in the world and which is used as a by-product for the production of copper or nickel.