12/29/2023 0 Comments Who mines cobalt for batteries![]() ![]() "Everyone agrees that cobalt is likely to be in deficit in the coming years, and for a company like Apple, lithium-ion batteries are key, and therefore security of supply of the raw materials going into those batteries is crucial." "Meanwhile, security of supply has definitely been a major concern for ," Gerbens added. "It certainly does remove that element of uncertainty." Certainly, the ethical issue has been key priority for them, and it has proven quite difficult to obtain good supply-chain visibility in the case of cobalt," he said. Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicted last year that cobalt demand will increase 30-fold by 2030.Īndries Gerbens, a trader at London-based Darton Commodities, agreed. This strategy could save it " hundreds of billions of dollars over the next two to three years," Daniel Ives, chief strategy officer and head of technology research at GBH Insights, told CNBC.Ĭobalt prices stand at $80,000 per metric ton, up from $20,000 in January 2016, and global demand for 2018 is estimated at more than 110,000 metric tons, according to Reuters. So it makes sense that Apple would be looking to secure supply and potentially save a lot of money, too. Transparency Market Research has estimated that by the end of 2022, the global automotive battery market will be worth more than $54.5 billion, up from $30 billion in 2015. The French and German governments last year announced bans on gasoline and diesel car sales by 2040, and China is ramping up EV production. In 2012, Unicef estimated that 40,000 children worked in mines in the DRC's south.ĭemand for, and the price of, cobalt has skyrocketed since early 2016 on projections of fast-growing demand for electric vehicles, whose lithium-ion rechargeable batteries are also dependent on the metal. In 2016, Amnesty International unveiled evidence of child labor in mines whose cobalt, through a long and complex supply chain spanning several continents, has wound up in Apple's smartphones, among several other major device makers. ![]() More than 60 percent of the world's cobalt is found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Apple declined to comment on the reports, which cited unnamed sources. "It might be a supply concern, but really Apple's biggest concern over the last five years has been where are our components coming from and are they mined and produced responsibly?" Moores added. "They need to ensure that their cobalt isn't sourced from illegal mining operations, especially those using child labor." So this is significant - the reason they're doing it is supply chain visibility," Simon Moores, managing director of Benchmark Minerals, told CNBC. "Apple is a buyer of batteries, not a buyer of battery components, and it's a number of steps away from the raw materials side. Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower Kara was interviewed about the book on NPR’s “Fresh Air” on February 1, and on Australia’s ABC Radio National on February 8.Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit In the book- Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives-Kara documents brutal mining practices, militia-controlled mining areas, child labor, and mining-related deaths in the D.R.C., where about 75% of the world’s supply of cobalt is mined. ![]() Chan School of Public Health’s Siddharth Kara.Ī new book by Kara, a visiting scientist at Harvard Chan School and an author, researcher, screenwriter, and activist on modern slavery, exposes the harms that result from the mining of cobalt, an essential component of the lithium-ion rechargeable batteries that power smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. Febru– Cobalt mining is taking a huge toll on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.), according to Harvard T.H. ![]()
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