Labor strife, rights issues in Congo spur Canadian mining firms to seek other sources TORONTO — A handful of Canadian miners are ramping up operations to mine cobalt, betting on demand for a socially responsible source of the metal that is in high demand as a key component of electric cars. Most cobalt currently comes […]
Green Energy
Australia cobalt rush accelerates on electric vehicle demand, DRC troubles
Australia, home to the world’s second-biggest cobalt reserves, is seeing a rush of interest in projects still years from production as makers of batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs) seek supplies of the metal from a more costly but less risky source than top miner, the Democratic Republic of Congo. As auto makers seek to […]
BMW throws fuel on cobalt price fire: ‘we’ll need 10x as much’
Cobalt prices have gone ballistic in 2017 with the metal quoted on the LME touching $75,000 a tonne a week ago, a 127% surge year to date and a more than 20% jump just over the last month. Lithium carbonate prices began its run up two years ago, going from $6,100 per tonne to average […]
How to Mine Cobalt Without Going to Congo
Almost 9,000 miles from the dusty Congo savanna, miners have hit on an entirely new source of cobalt — the rare mineral at the heart of the electric-car boom. And not only can they take coffee breaks, when they take a break, they can grab a donut at Tim Hortons. Scientists working for American Manganese […]
Cobalt’s dramatic demand bump gives rise to novel investment vehicle
Cobalt supply constraints, coupled with a never-before-seen boom in the adoption rate of electric vehicles (EV) across the globe, have conspired to create an ideal market in which a pure-play cobalt investment and participation vehicle’s profits can outpace its peers. Cobalt, a critical ‘energy metal’ used to make lithium-ion batteries, has become the backbone of the ‘Fourth IndustrialRevolution’ and has […]
Cobalt: A Precarious Supply Chain
How does your mobile phone last for 12 hours on just one charge? It’s the power of cobalt, along with several other energy metals, that keeps your lithium-ion battery running. The only problem? Getting the metal from the source to your electronics is not an easy feat, and this makes for an extremely precarious supply […]
