Tesla I'd argue would NOT have done anything meaningful without Musk - it would have remained a freak supercar if it was ever made that soon failed into bankruptcy.
no.... a Viking burial at sea......
Lack of deposits is not the problem. There are cobalt deposits in USA and also Canada (much more than U.S.). See info later about cobalt and silver mining town in Ontario, Canada named Cobalt.
Thank you very much for the in-depth treatise on Cobalt. I surveyed the 56 square mile Lithium mine for Albemarle in Silver Peak, Nevada (next gas station 138 miles). I got really familiar with #3 on the periodic table.Lack of deposits is not the problem. There are cobalt deposits in USA and also Canada (much more than U.S.). See info later about cobalt and silver mining town in Ontario, Canada named Cobalt.
The main issue is cobalt mining, processing, and refining is very nasty in environmental terms.
Cobalt was mined in the Idaho Cobalt Belt (ICB) of east-central Idaho during the 1900s, and the Blackbird Mine (closed 1982) was designated as a Superfund site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after closing.
Australia has 2nd largest cobalt deposit reserves after 1st place Democratic Republic of Congo. A big difference is that Australia is actively mining only a small amount (lower %) of it's deposit.
Also as battery researchers find more and better chemistries that use much less cobalt or no cobalt (like Lithium/Iron/Phosphate (LFP), Sodium-ion) the situation might become that nobody builds more expensive infrastructure for cobalt because future demand for cobalt is questionable.
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How much cobalt can be mined in the US?
Study examines domestic mining site in Idaho
June 6, 2023
by Laura Fattaruso, Geological Society of America
https://phys.org/news/2023-06-cobalt-domestic-site-idaho.html
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The study authors conclude that the ore from Idaho should be divided and processed for copper and cobalt separately. Chalcopyrite can be processed for copper in existing copper smelting facilities within the U.S., and minerals with cobalt would ideally be processed in an autoclave—either an existing facility in Canada, or a new one to be built in the U.S.
The study also documents existing global cobalt mining and processing facilities and the connections between them—highlighting that the vast majority of the global cobalt supply is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and then processed in China.
Despite a high projected need for cobalt, battery technologies that use other ingredients have been gaining attention and popularity, such as lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, also called LFPs.
"Technology is evolving, and one of the new trendy research areas focuses on reducing the amount of cobalt in batteries. Will we still need the projected amounts of cobalt in the future? We don't know." says Holley.
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Cobalt Data Sheet - Mineral Commodity Summaries 2020
January 2020
U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries,
https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2020/mcs2020-cobalt.pdf
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Identified cobalt resources of the United States are estimated to be about 1 million tons. Most of these resources are in Minnesota, but other important occurrences are in Alaska, California, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
Identified world terrestrial cobalt resources are about 25 million tons. The vast majority of these resources are in sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits in Congo (Kinshasa) and Zambia; nickel-bearing laterite deposits in Australia and nearby island countries, and Cuba; and magmatic nickel-copper sulfide deposits hosted in mafic and ultramafic rocks in Australia, Canada, Russia, and the United States. More than 120 million tons of cobalt resources have been identified in manganese nodules and crusts on the floor of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.
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Cobalt is a town in Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt,_Ontario
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Renewed interest in cobalt and silver mining
Cobalt is a byproduct of silver mining and was not of significant interest as a mineral until recently; in fact, many considered it to be a "nuisance".[18] Today, however, it is a critical component in the types of rechargeable lithium battery used in millions of mobile devices and in electric cars,[19] and demand is expected to increase.[20] This application for the mineral was not yet possible in the mid-1980s[21] when the last mining company, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited, ceased operations in the area.[12] Cobalt is always mixed not only with silver but also with copper, nickel and other metals.[22]
By 2017, several cobalt exploration companies were focusing on the area around Cobalt,[23] as one alternative to cobalt mining in the politically-unstable Democratic Republic of Congo.[24] Roughly 60% of the world's cobalt is mined in the Congo, much of it using child labour in very poor working conditions. Major companies that require this mineral for their batteries were searching for ethically-sourced product.[25] The shortage of such cobalt is a primary reason for the 300% increase in the price of this commodity since 2015.[26]
Stock prices of First Cobalt Corp. and Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. had soared in 2017 based on this prospect. The CEO of First Cobalt made this comment after returning from a trip to the U.S., Europe, Australia and Asia: "We've got some of the biggest resource companies in the world interested".[12] In October, the company was planning to prospect the Caswell, Ophir and Silver Banner areas, as well as mines around Kerr Lake and Maiden Lake, via the staff of Bjorkman Prospecting of Whiskey Jack, Ontario.[27] At the time, First Cobalt was negotiating a merger with two other companies, Cobalt One and CobalTech.[28] If the merger is completed, the group expected to control about 45% of the potential mining properties in the Cobalt area including 50 mines that previously produced cobalt and silver; a competitor, Agnico Eagle, controls approximately 21%.[29] However the latter ceased production there in the 1980s.
Silver was selling for US$17 per ounce in late November 2017, down significantly from its peak of US$50 in 2012,[30] but cobalt was at about US$31 per pound at that time, up significantly from the US$10 price in late 2015.[31] The prices will increase according to Gino Chitaroni, the president of the Northern Prospectors' Association. He also predicted that the area around Cobalt would be a primary source of both minerals. "It's spectacular ... We have the infrastructure. We have a historic mining area. It puts us a step up on anywhere [else] in the world."[18] In March 2017, the town's mayor estimated that mining production could start in about three to five years.
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Blackbird mine was a large cobalt mine in Lemhi County, Idaho, United States. Mining for gold started in 1893, and the mine produced copper and cobalt between 1902 and 1968. The deposit still holds considerable amounts of copper and cobalt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbird_mine
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Blackbird mine operated steadily from 1949 to 1959, supported by the federal government's demand for cobalt during the Cold War. The mine closed when federal demand ended; a few companies tried to open it again, but demand for cobalt was low and they were not successful. The mine was completely shut down by 1982.
Water contamination at the mine resulted it its listing as a superfund site in 1983, and lawsuits ensued between the state of Idaho and the mining companies to clean it up. After over a decade in the courts, some cleanup began in 1997, which is indefinitely ongoing.
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The first cobalt mine in America in decades is opening in Idaho.
The metal used in electric vehicle batteries is in big demand yet analysts say the environmental costs are also high.
October 7, 2022
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