QUESTION $1[8$ Marks$]$

Accor ding to th e a rticle, $$ Th e co b alt ex pa nsion is la rg ely th anks to b illio ns o f d ollars o f inv es tmen t by Chin ese fir ms o n r efin eries th at dis h o ut a ch e mical

cocktail co n tain ing c oba lt as well as nickel. The bigg est glo bal nickel pr od ucer Tsin gsha n Holdin g Gr oup $,$ co balt re finin g gia nt Zhejian g Huay ou Co balt and th e

top battery manu fac tu r er known as CATL are amon g investor s $.$

With the aid of a compre hensively labelled diagr am o f the $$ Input$-$Trans formation$-$Outp ut$$ pr ocess, discuss the operations o f a Cobalt refin ery. In your discussion,

hig hlig ht th e impo rta nce o f co b alt as a v alu ab le me ta l$,$ whic h is ex te nsiv ely us ed i n a wid e ra ng e o f ind ustria l a nd milita ry a pplica tions an d A fric a $($i$.$e$.,$

Rep ub lic o f th e Co ng o$)$ as th e le a din g p ro duc er o f co ba lt glob ally $,$ th e main tra ns for me d a nd tr ans fo r ming in pu ts $,$ an d th e ou tpu ts o f th e tra nsfor ma tio n

process. Please note that a generic discussion of the transformatio n process without relating it to the operations of a Cobalt refinery is not acceptable.