https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/northwest/idaho/article266874121.html
Cobalt is a necessary element needed for batteries for electric vehicles. China dominates production.
"China refines 80% of the world’s cobalt, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. About half of the world’s known supply of the element sits in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with most of the Central African nation’s largest industrial mines owned or financed by Chinese interests. “Cobalt is also crucially important to U.S. national security, being used in a variety of defense and aerospace applications,” the Jervois release said. “Most of the metal’s mining and processing currently takes place outside the U.S. and is heavily controlled by China.”
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