The Global Race To Mine The Metal Of The Future

[GzUp]

In the high-stakes competition to dominate the business of clean energy, the Democratic Republic of Congo is a major arena: The country is the source of more than two-thirds of the world’s cobalt, a key component of electric-car batteries.

In recent years, China has established a strong presence in Congo, while the United States has lost ground. We went to the African country to understand how that happened.

The Global Race to Mine the Metal of the Future

 

[OfTheCross]

 

[phcitywarrior]

I saw this a couple years ago when there was a huge push for EVs. DRC if they play their cards right could see a huge economic boom from this.

 

[hashmander]

I saw this a couple years ago when there was a huge push for EVs. DRC if they play their cards right could see a huge economic boom from this.

of course they're not.

 

[GzUp]

Imagine if Congo could have just mined and sold the cobalt themselves

 

[Gritsngravy]

Hopefully Congo can get china to invest into its infrastructure
Also I have a feeling that the space race between these public companies like spacex, blue origin , and Virgin Galactic is really a battle for who can start mining space first, producing cheap rockets is just a secondary goal

 

[phcitywarrior]

of course they're not.

We’ll see. The podcast mentions the DRC mining ministry looking to restructure their contracts. I think their best bet would be trade the cobalt for infrastructure and then the refining industry as well.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Imagine if Congo could have just mined and sold the cobalt themselves

and done what with it? They can't refine it, so someone else was going to come in and "do something" with it and force mining contracts on the extractors themselves.