Compounds of Cobalt

Cobalt is relatively abundant in nature at around 10 to 30 parts per million. The common ores of cobalt include: cobaltite, smaltite, chloranthite, and linnaeite. The largest suppliers of cobalt are Zambia, Canada, Russia, Australia, Zaire, and Cuba. Cobalt it not currently mined in the United States.

Cobalt compounds are commonly used to make colored glass, glazes, paints, rubber, inks, cosmetics, and pottery. These compounds compounds include: cobalt oxide, cobalt potassium nitrite, cobalt aluminate, and cobalt ammonium phosphate. Cobalt compounds can also be used as catalyst. A catalyst is a substance that is used to speed up or lower a chemical reaction, by increasing or decreasing its activation energy. For all the cobalt used in the United States about 25% of them are cobalt compounds.