Why does Congo have a near monopoly in Cobalt extraction? Is all the Cobalt in the world really only in Congo? Or is it something else? Congo produces 80% of the global cobalt supply. Why only Congo? Is the entirety of cobalt located ONLY in Congo?
In: Earth Science
It’s like the rare earth metals coming from China. Rare earth metals are not actually rare but China is a cheap source of them so they dominate the market. Congo is the cheapest place to produce cobalt and can produce enough to meet demand. If another place could produce cobalt but it’s even a little bit more expensive it wouldn’t make money. It is much cheaper for an existing operation to ramp up to meet demand than for a new mine to start production.
It’s different for something like copper or aluminum. We use so much of these and our consumption is based in part in price. So a new mine can still be profitable by increasing global supply. We don’t use nearly as much cobalt so the few operating mines can supply our needs. We could get it other places but it doesn’t make sense to make that investment just to be undercut but existing operations.
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