An essential mineral used to make batteries for electric cars, computers and cell phones, cobalt is in high demand. According to recent projections by the World Economic Forum’s Global Battery Alliance, the demand for cobalt for use in batteries will grow fourfold by 2030 as a result of the electric vehicle boom alone.
More than 70% of the world’s cobalt produced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and 15 to 30% of the Congolese cobalt is produced by artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) reports.
