Asian Metal visits Ganzhou Tengyuan Cobalt Industrial, CGM (Ganzhou) International Cobalt Industry, Jiangxi Jiangwu Cobalt Industry and Ganzhou Yi Hao Umicore Industries

Joy and Young, analysts of Minor Metals of Asian Metal, visited Ganzhou Tengyuan Cobalt Industrial Co.,Ltd., CGM (Ganzhou) International Cobalt Industry Co., Ltd., Jiangxi Jiangwu Cobalt Industry Co. ,Ltd. and Ganzhou Yi Hao Umicore Industries Co. ,Ltd. during May 16-17, 2013, and received warm reception from these enterprises.

On the morning of May 16, Asian Metal visitors came to Ganzhou Tengyuan Cobalt Industrial Co., Ltd. and were warmly welcomed by the GM Yanghong Wu and the Executive Director Fubiao Xie. Tengyuan Cobalt has been developing rapidly in recent years and it has a capacity of producing 150 tons of cobalt salts per month nowadays, being the largest producer in China. Cobalt materials market runs slowly this year due to sluggish economy at home and abroad and profit margin declined sharply in the past years, which seriously hit participants in the market. Cobalt market is in a “shuffle” right now and only enterprises without shortcomings in any aspects can survive the selection. Mr. Wu and Xie believed that more rigorous requirements will be given to cobalt enterprises and it will be more difficult to enter the industry with development of the market.

Ganzhou Tengyuan Cobalt Industrial Co.,Ltd. is a modern corporate enterprise with businesses including scientific research, production and trade. The company is located in economic development zone of Gan County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province. Gross investment is 150 million yuan with 100,000 square meters of floor space and 38,000 square meters of gross construction area. The company has independent import and export rights and a capacity of producing 1,000 tons of cobalt products and 1,000 tons of copper products per year. Among over 200 workers, there are 28 technicists and 6 professional titles, which lay a solid foundation for development of the company.

On the afternoon of the day, Asian Metal visitors visited CGM (Ganzhou) International Cobalt Industry Co., Ltd. and met GM Zhongzhi Sima and Marketing Director Jiexiang Deng. Asian Metal visited their workshops and learned production technologies. Then Asian Metal shared opinions on status quo of cobalt market with them. Mr. Sima noted that they have strong competitiveness in domestic cobalt carbonate market and they are paying close attention to technical development, cost control and capital operation. The company still focuses on cobalt carbonate business.

CGM (Ganzhou) International Cobalt Industry Co., Ltd. is a key enterprise in Gan County and located in Hongjin Industrial Park of Gan County. As a metallurgical company of nonferrous metals, its businesses cover processing and sales of cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese and other nonferrous metals. Leading product is cobalt carbonate and cobalt chloride, etc..

Asian Metal went to Jiangxi Jiangwu Cobalt Industry Co., Ltd. and met Deputy GM Wancheng Xie on the morning of May 17. Mr. Xie introduced development history of Jiangxi Cobalt Industry Company of JXTC. Ganzhou Cobalt and Tungsten Company was primitively called Eight Zero One Plant, which was founded in 1958 and was the origin of Chinese cobalt industry. During the First Five-Year Plan, the plant was one of key projects and one of key 5,000 enterprises, ranking 36th in top 100 nonferrous metals metallurgical enterprises, titled as “Top 500 Chinese economic effective industrial enterprises”, “Top 100 nonferrous metals metallurgical enterprises” and “Top 100 Chinese enterprises”. In December of 2009, Ganzhou Cobalt and Tungsten Company finished restructuring with main technicists, administrative staff as well as technology, brand and market network totally transferred to Jiangxi Cobalt Industry Company of JXTC. Jiangxi Cobalt Industry Company of JXTC currently has a capacity of about 100tpy for main product cobaltosic oxide and plans to expand the capacity to 180-200tpy by the end of the year.

Jiangxi Cobalt Industry Company of JXTC, established in August, 2006 and located in Ganzhou, Jiangxi that is called “tungsten capital in the world” and “rare earth kingdom”, is established by JXTC, the largest rare metals group in China, and Ganzhou government. Its orientation of products closely follows the trend of global low carbon economy.

On the afternoon of May 17, Asian Metal visited Ganzhou Yi Hao Umicore Industries Co., Ltd.and met Chairman Guangbo Zhang and Deputy GM Xiangxiong Zeng. The two sides had a deep discussion about the market development, market pattern and future trend, agreeing that the market is in consolidation and whether a company will achieve sustainable development depends on factors like technical level, operation principle, capital chains and enterprise culture, especially resource that is vital to survival of a company. On the market pattern, about 10 cobalt producers can survive the selection and integration.

Ganzhou Yi Hao Umicore Industries Co., Ltd. is a sino-foreign joint venture focusing on development, production and sales of cobalt chemicals. The company covers 320 acres of floor space and has 17.42 million dollars of registered capital with 52.26 million dollars of gross investment and a processing capacity of 50,000tons of cobalt materials per year. Main products include cobalt oxalate, cobalt carbonate, cobalt hydroxide, cobalt chloride, cobalt sulfate, cobalt tetroxide, cobalt metal and high purity electrolytic copper, which are used in rechargeable battery materials, cemented carbide, magnetic materials, powder metallurgy, oil catalyst, ceramics and binder.