Natural resources power and electrify our everyday world. From our cars, consumer electronics, jet engines, and wind turbines to name a few, natural resources are an unseen, but integral part of our everyday existence. Yet, how often do we stop to think about the use and origin of these resources?
As the imperative to radically and fundamentally shift the world’s energy infrastructure
becomes increasingly urgent, the mineral cobalt has emerged as a key mineral necessary for
this transition given its use in the manufacture of renewable energy technologies, namely
electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Cobalt, along with a number of other minerals such as lithium,
copper, nickel, and rare earth elements, are collectively known as critical minerals, and are the
key to building the infrastructure that will enable a global clean energy system and energy security.
Lithium-ion batteries are the most widely used battery type for EVs, of which cobalt is a critical component because of its ability to have one of the highest melting points of any mineral, high-energy density, and long lifetime compared with other battery chemistries. While efforts are underway to rapidly develop alternative battery chemistries that do not contain cobalt, lithium-
ion batteries continue to dominate the market for cobalt, and likely will for some time.
Mined primarily as a byproduct of copper or nickel, cobalt is naturally abundant in only a handful of countries, such as Russia, Australia and Canada. However, the Democratic Republic of Congo far outpaces any other country in the world in terms cobalt reserves, at 3.6 million tons as of 2020, or about 70% of the world’s cobalt supply. A vast area known as the “Copperbelt”, cobalt is mainly concentrated in the DRC’s southernmost provinces of Lualaba and Haut-Katanga, bordering Zambia.
It is mined through large-scale mining (LSM) operations conducted by multinational mining firms and artisanal, small-scale mining (ASM), an informal sector composed of makeshift mines dug by local residents who rely on cobalt as a primary source of livelihood.
While cobalt is key to achieving a world of clean energy, it is also problematic. The DRC is
notorious for long-standing corruption and political instability, violence, and human rights
issues such as child labor and occupational health hazards in the artisanal mining sector, which
supplies about a third of the world’s cobalt supply.
As such, clear due diligence challenges exist within the complex, global cobalt value chain for both mining, end-user companies and consumers alike. Moreover, there are legitimate concerns regarding the supply security of cobalt for the world’s energy transition vis-à-vis corruption and political instability in the DRC, China securing an increasing ownership of cobalt mines in the country, as well as being the world’s largest cobalt refiner, and largest lithium-ion battery manufacturer.
Developing an awareness of the context and origins of the natural resources that power our everyday world is the first step in thinking analytically about a critical mineral like cobalt, and how the global community can mediate the ethical and geopolitical risks it poses.
