Analysis of Cobalt Substance Flow through China in Year of 2012

Substance flow analysis (SFA) of cobalt in China was carried out to analyze cobalt flows and stocks by using static SFA. Cobalt can be widely used in industry due to its high-melting point, high-strength, and well magnetism. In this static model, the relationship among inflows, outflows and stocks throughout the whole cobalt life-cycle in China were identified. According to the static model, the amount was calculated in the form of cobalt metal, in 2012, 29784t of cobalt was produced, and 30700t of cobalt was imported, 9400t exported and domestic consumption was 31700t, 9000t stocks of cobalt was consumed and 3000t old scrap was recycled in China. The ore index and recovery scrap resource of cobalt industry were 0.318 t/t and 0.136 t/t respectively.