Glencore Plc increased cobalt production in Democratic Republic of Congo by almost a third after restart of one of mines, Bloomberg reports.

Swiss commodity giant is going to double output of key metal used in electric cars batteries in next two years and occupy significant part of the market.

Cobalt output rose by 31% to 16700 tons in the first half.

At the same time company faced some serious problems this year. US Department of Justice initiated a probe in regards to possible corruption actions of the company in Congo, Nigeria and Venezuela. Besides, Glencore faced higher taxes and tighter regulation in Congo.

Copper output rose by 8%, nickel volumes increased by 21%.

Katanga mine has one of the biggest copper and nickel reserves of copper and cobalt in Congo. After upgrade Glencore is planning to mine 300000 tons of copper. It will account for fifth of company’s global volumes.