Glencore said it was willing to buy up to 8 lots with no restrictions attached to any of its bids, which ranged between $16.00 and $17.75.

The next highest bid came from Allied Deals Inc, which offered up to $17.515 per lb. Globe Commodities offered the lowest bid of $13.13 per lb.

DLA offered 650,000 lbs of cobalt for sale in the monthly auction, up from the agency's typical 500,000 offering, reflecting a recent climb in demand and prices. Cobalt prices in the spot market last week edged up to one-year highs on tight supplies and indications that Japan may need to increase its purchases of metal.

Before the bids were announced, metals traders in New York and London said prices for low-grade cobalt were quoted at $18 to $21 per lb, with higher grade cobalt fetching $20 to $25 per lb.

Last month, the DLA soldcobalt to high bidders Glencore Ltd, Allied Deals Inc and Phoenixx International at prices ranging from $12.83 to $13.52 per lb.

DLA was scheduled to announce the winning bidders on Thursday.

Based on its bids for eight lots, Glencore said it was willing to buy up to a total of 350,642.99 lbs of surplus cobalt. Allied Deals offered bids for 17 lots, totaling 676,621.54 lbs.

Notes or restrictions attached to bids

Sogem USA - Maximum quantity of 55,500 lbs at $16.52 and 21,100 lbs at $15.81.

ABS Alloys & Metals - Maximum quantity of 52,000 lbs, preferably from one location. Will accept all or parts of any lot or any combination.

Amalgamated Metals Corp - Maximum quantity of 50,000 lbs; offering $16.45 on 99 percent and above quality cobalt and $16.04 for lesser quality. Total bid price of up to $822,500.

Shepherd Chemical Co - Maximum quantity of 55,000 lbs.

Tricor Group - Maximum quantity of 23,499.88 lbs at $16.60.

Voss Metals - Maximum quantity of 20,000 lbs.

Globe Commodities -Maximum quantity of 50,679.03 lbs at $15.20 and maximum quantity of 113,131.21 lbs at $13.13.