Kokkola cobalt refinery
Europe's main cobalt refinery, between Congolese ore and European battery plants.
- Material
- Cobalt
- Stage
- Processing plant
- Place
- Central Ostrobothnia, Finland
- Operator
- Umicore
- Coordinates
- 63.85° N, 23.03° E (approximate)
Seen from orbit
- Heat
- 0 of the last 7 days and 0 of the last 30 had furnace-hot pixels within 6 km (NASA FIRMS).
- Surface temperature
- Landsat, 18 Oct 2026: typical ground -1.4 °C; 0.0 ha more than 8 °C warmer than the land around it; hottest spot 6.6 °C above it.
- Sulphur dioxide
- 5 of 13 days seen in the last 60 read above 2 DU within 50 km; highest 4.48 DU.
- Radar
- Latest Sentinel-1 radar picture: 26 Oct 2026.
Signals show activity, not output. They are measured automatically and can be affected by weather, terrain and fires.
Facts
- Bought by Umicore from Freeport in 2019 for $150 million
- Capacity 15,000 t a year; described at the time as the largest cobalt refinery outside China