Cobalt has been mined for millennia and used for a variety of purposes – from blue pigment to green vehicles. Today, cobalt is critical in the chemistry of the ubiquitous lithium-ion battery, which powers cellular phones, laptops and electric vehicles. It is so critical, in fact, that the specter of a supply problem has investors on high alert. And for good reason. Much of the world’s supply of cobalt comes from the very unstable Democratic Republic of the Congo, and most of that supply is now controlled by China. Inside this piece we examine cobalt’s increasingly important place in the world and the challenges companies face in securing a supply of the blue mineral.

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