Pentagon cancels $500m cobalt stockpile tender in setback to US strategy

The US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) cancelled a tender to buy cobalt worth as much as $500m on 16 October 2025, dealing a setback to Washington's efforts to rebuild a strategic stockpile of the battery metal just as the Democratic Republic of Congo's export controls were tightening global supply.

A first attempt in 35 years, then a stumble

The DLA had first sought offers in mid-August 2025 for up to 7,500 tonnes of cobalt to be delivered over five years — the US government's first attempt to acquire the metal since 1990. The agency extended the original 29 August deadline for offers multiple times, ultimately pushing it out to 15 October, before dropping the tender altogether the following day. A notice posted on a US government website cited "outstanding issues with the Statement of Work that need resolution before offers may be solicited," adding that a new solicitation would be issued once those issues were resolved.

Why it matters

Cobalt is used not only in rechargeable batteries but in magnets, munitions and jet-engine alloys, making it a genuine defence-relevant material as well as a battery metal. The cancelled tender came at a moment when Congo's export ban, still in effect for cobalt bound for commercial buyers, had already tightened global availability and pushed prices higher — precisely the environment in which a government stockpile purchase becomes both more urgent and more expensive to execute. China, by contrast, dominates cobalt processing and has built a substantial state stockpile of its own, a gap Washington's tender was meant to start closing.

The setback illustrated a broader difficulty facing Western governments trying to compete with China's decades-long head start in critical mineral stockpiling: even with political will and budget allocated, the mechanics of structuring a workable purchase contract for a metal whose supply chain runs almost entirely through the DRC and Chinese refiners proved harder than anticipated.

What happens next

The DLA said a revised solicitation would follow once the contract terms were fixed, but no new tender had been reissued in the weeks after the cancellation, leaving the US stockpile ambition unresolved even as Congo's cobalt policy continued to reshape the global market around it.

Sources

• Mining.com / Bloomberg News: US Cancels $500 Million Cobalt Tender in Critical Minerals Blow, 16 Oct 2025