Cobalt prospectivity
across the USA & Canada.
Magmatic sulphide, sediment-hosted and lateritic cobalt, ranked and explained — validated across the USA and Canada.
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What the model reads for cobalt.
Every cobalt target is scored on the same seven lines of evidence — with a pathfinder-geochemistry signature tuned to this system.
Host rock
rock type and age
Gravity & magnetics
buried structures and intrusions
Radiometrics
potassium, thorium, uranium
Terrain shape
elevation, slope, aspect
Surface texture
radar (Sentinel-1)
Alteration
mineral signatures from satellite
Pathfinder chemistry
the elements that point to your commodity
Pathfinder geochemistry the model weighs
Lead signal: Nickel, copper and arsenic. These are the elements this national model actually reads to rank cobalt ground.
What is cobalt?
Cobalt is a lustrous, ferromagnetic transition metal prized for the strength, heat resistance and magnetic performance it confers on alloys, and for its role in rechargeable-battery chemistry. It is rarely found as a native metal and is won almost entirely as a by-product of copper and nickel mining. Its ore minerals span sulphides and sulpharsenides such as cobaltite, linnaeite and carrollite, the arsenide skutterudite, cobalt-bearing pentlandite in magmatic ores, and secondary oxides such as heterogenite in weathered ground. MineDSS models cobalt through three seeded deposit systems: magmatic sulphide, sediment-hosted and lateritic. Each leaves a mappable footprint — distinctive host lithologies, alteration or weathering, geophysical responses and a co-located multi-element geochemical halo — which is exactly the pattern a prospectivity model is built to read across large, partly covered terrains.
The deposit model
The three seeded systems span the full cobalt cycle from magma to weathered regolith. Magmatic sulphide deposits form where an immiscible sulphide liquid segregates from cooling mafic and ultramafic magma; cobalt substitutes into pentlandite alongside nickel, copper and platinum-group elements. Sediment-hosted systems concentrate cobalt as carrollite and cobaltite within reduced, organic-rich or metasedimentary strata, typically in copper-bearing basins where reduced fluids fix metals along redox and structural traps. Lateritic deposits are secondary: prolonged tropical weathering of ultramafic rock strips soluble elements and concentrates nickel and cobalt in the limonite and manganese-oxide (asbolane–heterogenite) horizons of the weathering profile. MineDSS reads these contrasting settings by combining mapped mafic-ultramafic and sedimentary geology and structure, geophysical signatures of intrusions, ultramafic bodies and buried contacts, satellite-mapped alteration and weathering, and the pathfinder geochemistry that trails a mineralising system — ranking ground by its resemblance to known mineralised cobalt settings.
Why it matters
Cobalt sits near the top of the critical- and strategic-mineral lists maintained across the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other major economies, because its most important uses touch both the energy transition and national security. It is central to the cathodes of high-density rechargeable batteries and to the superalloys that make high-performance jet engines possible, so demand is reinforced by electrification, aerospace and defence programmes at once. Both mine supply and refining are heavily concentrated in a small number of countries, and the journey from discovery to producing mine is long, so transparent, defensible targeting of prospective ground carries real weight for explorers and for the governments that seek secure, diversified supply.
Where it's used
The fastest-growing use of cobalt is in the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries, where it stabilises structure and raises energy density in cells for electric vehicles, consumer electronics and grid storage. Its oldest strategic use is in superalloys — cobalt-based and nickel-based — for the turbine blades of jet engines and industrial gas turbines, where strength at high temperature is essential. Cobalt also underpins high-performance permanent magnets, catalysts for petroleum refining and synthetic-fuel synthesis, hard-facing and wear-resistant alloys, cutting-tool binders, and durable blue pigments. These applications make secure, well-characterised supply a matter of both industrial and national interest.
How MineDSS reads it
MineDSS reads a cobalt-focused pathfinder suite qualitatively rather than through fixed weights. The seeded elements are nickel, copper, arsenic, silver, chromium and antimony, with nickel, copper and arsenic carrying the lead signal. Nickel tracks the magmatic-sulphide and lateritic association in which cobalt travels with nickel; copper marks sediment-hosted copper-cobalt systems; and arsenic traces the sulpharsenide and arsenide minerals — cobaltite, skutterudite and the secondary 'cobalt bloom' erythrite — that host or flag cobalt. Silver reflects the classic silver–nickel–cobalt–arsenic vein association, chromium the mafic-ultramafic parent rocks, and antimony the sulphosalt chemistry. These signals are read alongside mapped geology and structure, geophysics that resolves intrusions and weathered profiles, and satellite-mapped alteration, with no single line treated as decisive.
Cobalt prospectivity — common questions
Which cobalt deposit types does MineDSS model?
MineDSS models three seeded deposit systems: magmatic sulphide, sediment-hosted and lateritic cobalt. Magmatic systems host cobalt in pentlandite where a sulphide liquid separates from mafic-ultramafic magma, alongside nickel, copper and platinum-group metals. Sediment-hosted systems fix cobalt as carrollite and cobaltite in reduced, copper-bearing sedimentary and metasedimentary basins. Lateritic systems concentrate nickel and cobalt in the weathered profile above ultramafic rock. Because cobalt is almost always won as a by-product of copper and nickel, these three routes capture the great majority of primary and secondary cobalt sources, and the model ranks ground by its resemblance to them rather than to unrelated styles.
How is the model's accuracy measured, and where is cobalt available?
We validate every model the hard way — held-out spatial cross-validation. We hide known deposits, rebuild the model without them, then test whether it still finds them, with test blocks kept spatially separated so it cannot memorise nearby points. We are currently refreshing our published national skill figures so they reflect deployment-time performance, and will republish them per model. Coverage today spans the United States and Canada; the figures are model-level skill, never a specific site's measured accuracy, and never a discovery or JORC / NI 43-101 resource claim.
Which pathfinder elements does MineDSS use for cobalt?
The seeded pathfinder suite is nickel, copper, arsenic, silver, chromium and antimony, with nickel, copper and arsenic carrying the lead signal. Nickel and chromium reflect the mafic-ultramafic and lateritic settings cobalt shares with nickel; copper marks sediment-hosted copper-cobalt systems; and arsenic, silver and antimony trace the sulpharsenide, arsenide and sulphosalt minerals — such as cobaltite and skutterudite — that carry or flag cobalt. These elements are evidence the model reads, not commodities it ranks. MineDSS interprets the geochemistry qualitatively and alongside mapped geology and structure, geophysics and satellite-mapped alteration, rather than applying fixed numeric weights to any one element.
Does a high MineDSS score mean a cobalt deposit or a resource estimate?
No. A high score means ground is geologically similar to known mineralised cobalt systems and merits closer exploration attention. It is not a discovery, not a JORC or NI 43-101 resource or reserve estimate, and not drilling or investment advice. MineDSS ranks prospectivity to help prioritise where to look; confirming whether cobalt is present, and in what quantity and grade, still requires field programmes, drilling and independent assessment by qualified professionals.
Other commodities we model
Better cobalt targets. Evidence you can check.
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