In battery boom cobalt-supply chain, Democratic Republic of Congo has the power

The cars of the future will depend increasingly upon supplies of an obscure metal from a country in the African tropics where there has never been a peaceful transition of power and child labor is still used in parts of the mining industry.

A "creuseur," or digger, climbs through a cobalt
and copper mine in Kawama, in the Democratic
 Republic of the Congo. Sixty per cent of the
 world's cobalt comes from the Congo.

Most major automakers are pledging to build millions of electric vehicles as the world's governments crack down on climate-damaging emissions from traditional-fuel engines. As a result, demand is surging for lithium-ion batteries and the materials needed to make them – including cobalt, a relatively rare substance found mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The country formerly known as Zaire – which hosted boxers Muhammad Ali and George Foreman for their 1974 heavyweight title bout, dubbed the "Rumble in the Jungle" – supplies 63 per cent of the world's cobalt.

Congo's market share may jump to 73 per cent by 2025 as producers like Glencore expand mines, according to Wood Mackenzie. By 2030, global demand could be 47 times more than it was last year, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates.

Read the story by Tom Wilson in today’s Melbourne Age - “In battery boom cobalt-supply chain, Democratic Republic of Congo has the power.”