As part of the deal, the Anglo-Swiss company will supply cobalt to Britishvolt's planned £2.6 billion facility in Northumberland.

"By partnering with Glencore, we are locking in supply and derisking the project," said Britishvolt's CEO and founder, Orral Nadjari.

The plant is scheduled to start up in 2023, reaching full capacity of 30GWh by the end of 2027, by which time it will be producing over 300,000 lithium-ion batteries per year for the UK automotive industry.

Glencore is looking to quell concerns around the sustainability of cobalt supply. It said last week a "final industry solution" to trace responsibly-sourced cobalt from mines to electric vehicles was expected in 2022.

Glencore was one of a number of major industry players, also including China Molybdenum, Umicore and Tesla, which announced in May they were piloting Re|Source, a blockchain solution for end-to-end cobalt tracing.

Glencore produces cobalt a by-product of copper mining in the DRC, and as a by-product from its nickel operations in Australia and Canada.