Critical Minerals Mining Companies
Facts checked against sources on . How we check facts.
Critical minerals miners report in different units, years and bases, so there is no single league table, but their filings show who produces what. CMOC reported 117,549 tonnes of cobalt metal in 2025, more than three times the 36,100 tonnes of own-sourced cobalt reported by Glencore. In lithium, PLS produced a record 879,500 tonnes of spodumene concentrate in the year to June 2026, and in nickel Nornickel (198,521 tonnes) and Vale (177,200 tonnes) reported the largest company figures found for this page.
117,549 t
of cobalt metal produced by CMOC in 2025, up 2.96% on 2024
Source: CMOC 2025 Annual Report
36,100 t
of own-sourced cobalt produced by Glencore in 2025, down from 38,200 t in 2024
Source: Glencore production report
879.5 kt
of spodumene concentrate produced by PLS in the year to June 2026, up 17%
73%
of world cobalt came from Congo (Kinshasa) in 2025, with Indonesia at 14%
How much do the main critical minerals miners produce?
The table lists the miners whose own reports were read for this page, with their latest reported output as the company states it. Units and periods differ by row, so the figures show scale within a mineral, not a ranking across minerals.
| Company | Minerals | Latest reported output | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| CMOC Group | Cobalt, copper (Tenke Fungurume and Kisanfu, Congo (Kinshasa)) | 2025: 117,549 t of cobalt metal and 741,149 t of copper metal. Congo (Kinshasa) suspended cobalt exports on 21 February 2025, lifted the ban on 16 October 2025 and set quotas of up to 96,600 t a year for 2026 and 2027. | CMOC annual report |
| Glencore | Cobalt, nickel, copper | 2025 own-sourced: cobalt 36,100 t (38,200 t in 2024), nickel 71,900 t (82,300 t), copper 851,600 t (951,600 t). No 2026 cobalt guidance given because of uncertainty; nickel guidance is 70,000 to 80,000 t. | Glencore |
| Vale | Nickel | 2025: 177.2 kt of nickel, 46.2 kt of it in the fourth quarter, reported in a Form 6-K furnished on 27 January 2026. | Vale 6-K via StockTitan |
| Nornickel | Nickel, palladium | 2025: 198,521 t of nickel (down 3%) and 2.725 million ounces of palladium. 2026 guidance is 193,000 to 203,000 t of nickel. | Reuters via Kitco |
| PLS (Pilgangoora, Western Australia) | Lithium | Year to 30 June 2026: 879.5 kt of spodumene concentrate produced and 891.6 kt sold, both up 17%; June 2026 quarter production 214.3 kt. The Ngungaju plant restart began after the quarter. | PLS |
| Albemarle | Lithium (Talison joint venture and the Wodgina mine) | Second quarter 2026: Energy Storage sales of 65 kt of lithium carbonate equivalent (59 kt a year earlier). 2026 outlook 225 to 235 kt. A fire at the Talison CGP3 plant on 9 June 2026 delayed its ramp-up, and Kemerton Train 1 was placed in care and maintenance in 2026. | Albemarle |
| SQM | Lithium (Salar de Atacama, Chile) | 2025: sales of 233.1 thousand metric tons by Nova Andino Litio (204.9 in 2024), plus 156.4 thousand metric tons of spodumene concentrate sold by its international division. Codelco and SQM announced the NovaAndino Litio venture on 27 December 2025, running to 2060 with majority state participation. | SQM 6-K, Codelco |
| MP Materials (Mountain Pass, California) | Rare earths | Second quarter 2026: 11,072 t of rare earth oxide in concentrate (13,145 t in the second quarter of 2025, down 16%). | MP Materials |
Not tabulated because no company figure could be verified from a primary report for this page: Chinese lithium and rare earth producers, Indonesian nickel companies and artisanal cobalt output in Congo (Kinshasa). The Nornickel row was read in a press report and the Vale row in a copy of the SEC filing, as the Sources list notes.
Why can't critical minerals miners be ranked on one scale?
Miners cannot be ranked on one scale because they report different products, units and years. CMOC reports cobalt metal, Glencore reports own-sourced cobalt, PLS reports tonnes of spodumene concentrate, Albemarle reports lithium carbonate equivalent and SQM reports metric tons sold. A tonne of spodumene concentrate holds less lithium than a tonne of lithium carbonate, so PLS's 879.5 kt and SQM's 233.1 thousand tonnes cannot be compared directly.
Cobalt adds a second problem, because it is often produced alongside a larger metal. Glencore says its 2025 cobalt output reflected planning that prioritised copper production over cobalt, and both Glencore and CMOC report more tonnes of copper than of cobalt. The page on by-products and co-products explains why a by-product metal's supply can follow the economics of its host metal rather than its own price.
How do policy and accidents change what miners produce?
Government decisions and plant failures change reported output within a single year. Congo (Kinshasa) banned cobalt exports from 21 February 2025 and replaced the ban with quotas on 16 October 2025: 18,125 tonnes of contained cobalt for the rest of 2025 and up to 96,600 tonnes a year in 2026 and 2027, including 9,600 tonnes for national strategic reserves, according to USGS. CMOC's annual report cites CRU data that Congo's raw cobalt output fell 10.2% in 2025 to about 189,000 tonnes while Indonesia's rose 37.7% to about 46,000 tonnes.
In lithium, the June 2026 fire at Talison's CGP3 plant and the care-and-maintenance decision at Kemerton show the operational side, while price shows the commercial side: Albemarle's average realised price rose from $12.17 to $19.53 per kilogram of lithium carbonate equivalent between the second quarters of 2025 and 2026, and PLS's realised price more than doubled from US$672 to US$1,488 a tonne over its financial year. The page on resource nationalism covers export bans and quotas as policy tools.
Where are the companies developing new mines?
Companies developing new critical minerals mines are listed on the mines page, which draws on the European Commission's strategic project annexes and the Permitting Council's FAST-41 lists. Those lists name the promoter and country of each project, and a place on a list is a regulatory status, not a production forecast. The mining page shows how mining fits between exploration and processing.
Frequently asked questions
Which company produces the most cobalt?
CMOC reported the largest cobalt figure of the companies on this page: 117,549 tonnes of cobalt metal in 2025. Glencore reported 36,100 tonnes of own-sourced cobalt. Neither figure includes artisanal output in Congo (Kinshasa), and no complete ranking exists.
Who are the biggest lithium miners?
PLS, Albemarle and SQM are among the largest lithium miners, but they report in different units. PLS produced 879.5 kt of spodumene concentrate in the year to June 2026, Albemarle guides to 225 to 235 kt of lithium carbonate equivalent for 2026 and SQM sold 233.1 thousand metric tons from Chile in 2025.
How much of the world's cobalt comes from Congo (Kinshasa)?
USGS estimates that Congo (Kinshasa) accounted for 73% of world mined cobalt in 2025, followed by Indonesia at 14%. The country has limited cobalt exports by quota since October 2025, at up to 96,600 tonnes a year in 2026 and 2027.
Are mining company figures production or capacity?
The figures in the table are reported production or sales, as each row states, and not capacity. Capacity targets and announced expansions appear on the pages for refiners, projects and recyclers, because a plant that is announced or under construction has not yet produced output.
Sources
Read on October 13, 2026. Figures on this page come from these documents; where a number is an estimate, the source says so.
- CMOC Group: 2025 Annual Report (HKEX, April 2026)
- Glencore: Full Year 2025 Production Report (29 January 2026)
- Vale: Form 6-K of 27 January 2026 with the 4Q25 production report. Read through StockTitan's copy of the SEC filing
- Reuters via Kitco: Nornickel sees 2026 nickel output broadly in line with previous year (28 January 2026). Press report of the company figures; the primary release was not read
- PLS: June 2026 Quarterly Activities Report (30 July 2026)
- Albemarle: Second quarter 2026 earnings release
- SQM: Form 6-K, fourth quarter 2025 earnings release
- Codelco: Codelco and SQM form NovaAndino Litio (27 December 2025)
- MP Materials: Second quarter 2026 results
- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Cobalt
