SignificanceThe linkage between abuse to artisanal cobalt miners—including children—in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and use of cobalt in advanced batteries has prompted global supply chain reviews, responsible sourcing initiatives, and research to remove cobalt from battery cathodes. However, no study has systematically evaluated how large of a role artisanal mining plays in world cobalt mine production. Doing so reveals artisanal supply trends and potential monitoring points for artisanal production to help provide more transparent cobalt supply chains. This study finds that artisanal cobalt mining’s share of world cobalt mining has generally decreased since 2008 and that most artisanal production was either processed in the DRC by Chinese firms or exported to China.