The main ores of cobalt are cobaltite, erythrite, glaucodot and skutterudite.

Gersdorffite belongs to a solid solution series with cobaltite, CoAsS.

Cobalt glance (Cobaltite)

It occurs in association with cobaltite, skutterudite, symplesite, roselite-beta, scorodite, pharmacosiderite, adamite, morenosite, retgersite, and malachite.

Associated minerals include nickeline, nickel-skutterudite, cobaltite, ullmannite, maucherite, löllingite, platinum-group minerals, millerite, pyrite, marcasite, and chalcopyrite.

Deposits of a mixed massive or mixed sulfide-silicate 'matrix' of pentlandite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and/or pyrite are formed, occasionally with cobaltite and platinum-tellurium sulfides.

Lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite (LSCF), also called lanthanum strontium cobaltite ferrite is a ceramic material of the ferrite group.

Today, some cobalt is produced specifically from various metallic-lustered ores, for example cobaltite (CoAsS), but the main source of the element is as a by-product of copper and nickel mining.