Anna Krutikov, head of sustainable development at multi-national mining and trading company Glencore, outlined the company’s transition strategy toward critical minerals while highlighting regulatory hurdles in the circular economy during a panel at Economist Impact’s Sustainability Week in London on Tuesday March 11.
The company is transitioning its portfolio toward critical minerals to support the energy transition, but identified significant gaps between policy commitments and practical implementation in the recycling ecosystem, Krutikov said during the panel.
During a fireside chat with The Economist’s Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Krutikov said that Glencore is using cash flow, including from coal operations, to build its project pipeline in critical minerals, while taking a measured approach to adopting new technologies.
“We have committed to transition our portfolio toward critical minerals over time,” Krutikov said. “Critical minerals, of course, have a carbon footprint, but you can’t have the broader decarbonization transition without them. And so, what we have committed to is that the cash flow arising from the company today, including coal, is going to build our project pipeline in the critical general space, and thereby support the transition of that; that’s what we’re working towards.”
Krutikov highlighted that while the EU has made commitments to accelerate the circular economy ecosystem, there remains a significant implementation gap.
“We see, for example, in the European Union, commitments around accelerating the pace of some of this ecosystem development. We haven’t really seen that play out in practice,” she said. “That’s going to be the challenge — the real practical day-to-day. How do you set up collection? How do you get permits for facilities? How do you deal with storage, with shipping?”
Recycling opportunities
Glencore is already active in the recycling sector, particularly in North America, where Krutikov said the company is “one of the largest scrap processing providers.”
Glencore is both a major consumer and trader of the key recycling raw material black mass — a shredded and sorted lithium-ion battery scrap. Glencore’s smelter in Sudbury, Ontario, processes black mass using pyrometallurgy and then sends output material to its Nikkelverk facility in Norway for further processing.
Due to lackluster operational processing capacities in Europe, most European black mass is exported to Asia.
Fastmarkets’ weekly assessments of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, cif South Korea, % payable LME Nickel cash official price and of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) were both 72-74% on Wednesday March 5, narrowing from 71-75% a week earlier.
The weekly assessment of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, lithium, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea was 2-4% on Wednesday, unchanged week on week.
“We’re already involved in the recycling space, and we see it as an opportunity in terms of exposing ourselves to new sources of supply,” Krutikov said. “As miners, as marketers, we’re always looking for new supply chain opportunities.”
The company views recycling as a crucial component to meeting rising demand for critical minerals, but noted the practical challenges in implementing effective collection systems.
The challenge of balancing decarbonization with efficiency
When addressing the company’s approach to decarbonization technologies, Krutikov emphasized that Glencore is pursuing a balanced strategy that considers decarbonization alongside operational efficiency.
“The strategy that we’ve adopted is [that] we look at our targets as part of our capital allocation strategy,” she said. “We look at decarbonization, we also look at operational efficiency and safety… opportunities to optimize our fleet efficiency with all of these different considerations in mind. Again, in our view that makes for a more sustainable strategy because we’re less exposed to the risks of early adoption of some technologies, which are challenging.”
In operations with minimal emissions, Krutikov said the company has been able to implement battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from scratch, while using technologies to improve diesel consumption in open pit operations.
Addressing human rights concerns
Responding to questions about human rights issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly regarding illegal mining and child labor in cobalt and copper mining, Krutikov said Glencore has been a founding member of the Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA), launched in 2020.
According to its website, the FCA is a multi-stakeholder action platform to mobilize resources across the cobalt supply chain to deliver technical assistance and investment in improving artisanal and small-scale cobalt mining.
Glencore faces ongoing scrutiny on its human rights record alongside its sustainability efforts. In January 2025, the UK National Contact Point determined Glencore UK failed to properly leverage its influence over a subsidiary regarding an oil spill in Chad, recommending improved due diligence policies.
“We recognize that it’s a systemic issue for the value chain. It’s not something that we can just say is not our problem,” she said. “We need other stakeholders to collaborate with us, and I think it’s been a really fascinating but also innovative learning process.”
Cobalt prices rallied sharply on February 22, DRC imposed a four-month suspension on cobalt exports in response to persistent low prices caused by market oversupply.
Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for cobalt hydroxide 30% Co min, cif China was $10.00-11.00 per lb on Tuesday, up from $9.20-10.00 per lb the previous day and from $5.65-5.75 per lb on February 21.
Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam was $13.00-15.50 per lb on Tuesday, up from $12.00-13.50 per lb in the previous session and from $9.50-10.40 per lb on February 21.
Supply uncertainty challenges long-term planning
The discussion highlighted uncertainty about future material requirements for critical minerals, with lithium specifically mentioned as an example of how technological innovation complicates demand forecasting.
“Anyone who can tell me exactly how much lithium we’ll use in 2030 will get a gold star, or if we’ll use any at all, because of the nature of innovation,” Vaitheeswaran said during the interview.
Fastmarkets’ independently assessed lithium prices, compliant with IOSCO principles, serve as a benchmark for global markets.
Lee Allen and Sahil Shaw in London contributed to this report.
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