Once considered a waste byproduct of the metal mining industry, cobalt has become much more precious to technology manufacturers because of its ability to withstand the heat generated by lithium-ion batteries, according to The Wall Street Journal. Prices of the mineral have grown from about $30,000 per ton in May 2016 to about $64,000 per ton as of August 2018, according to SeekingAlpha.
Automakers are said to be driving the recent surge in cobalt prices as they buy up supply to power the cells found in electric cars. Currently, electric vehicles make up 2 percent of global sales, but that number is expected to rise to 10 percent by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030. To keep up with demand, cobalt suppliers will need to find a way to triple their annual production to eliminate the possibility of global shortages. As a result, the industry is seeing a lot of increased activity from established mining companies like Glencore PLC and First Cobalt. Glencore PLC has a significant mining position in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which is home to an estimated two-thirds of the world's cobalt supply but is plagued by human rights issues, labor shortages, and corruption. First Cobalt, on the other hand, is looking to Canada at old silver mining sites that would routinely discard cobalt near the mines.
In the longer term, the industry is searching for alternatives to cobalt. John Goodenough, the inventor of the original lithium-ion battery, along with other players such as Panasonic, have developed batteries that don't require the mineral, according to Wired Magazine. Instead, more readily available minerals such as iron and manganese can be used to layer between the lithium in solid-state batteries, but they are not yet efficient enough.