text: Image copyright Getty Images Image caption An open pit mine in Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo, where cobalt and copper is extracted 
   
   Gold once lured prospectors to the American west - but now it's cobalt that is sparking a rush. 
   
   Cobalt mining has not happened at any sort of scale in the United States for decades. 
   
   But a handful of mining companies are now staking claims at sites in Idaho, Montana and Alaska in search of the silvery blue mineral. 
   
   They are striking examples of the growing interest in cobalt - a key component in the lithium-ion batteries that power electronic devices and electric cars. 
   
   In the past, cobalt supply depended on the markets for copper and nickel, more valuable metals that are typically extracted alongside cobalt. 
   
   But with cobalt prices on the up and consumption projected to rise by between 8% to 10% a year, its status as a by-product has started to change, says George Heppel, senior analyst at research firm CRU Group in London. 
   
   Image copyright First Cobalt Image caption First Cobalt hopes to develop its Idaho mine in three years 
   
   About 300 companies worldwide are now on the hunt for cobalt deposits, CRU estimates. 
   
   Mining giants such as Glencore are also boosting production in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where most of the world's cobalt is found. 
   
   In the US, limited cobalt production started in 2014 for the first time in about four decades. 
   
   Canada-based First Cobalt bought a mine in Idaho this spring and hopes to get it developed in about three years. 
   
   Cobalt, rather than copper or another metal, is its main focus for the mine, says chief executive Trent Mell. 
   
   "Miners like us have never actually gone looking for cobalt," he says. "There's a lot of cobalt in the world. As miners, we're behind." 
   
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   Cobalt consumption is expected to exceed 122,000 tonnes this year, up from about 75,000 tonnes in 2011, according to CRU. 
   
   The price per pound (the measure used for cobalt) has risen above $40 this year, compared with about $20 in early 2011, and is now at about $32. 
   
   Although increased production is likely to help meet demand in the next few years, analysts say shortages loom by as soon as 2022. 
   
   Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A woman separates cobalt from mud and rocks near a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo 
   
   The market dynamics have helped to build confidence, says Fiona Grant Leydier of eCobalt, which has revived plans for its own cobalt mine in Idaho that were first mooted in the 1990s. 
   
   The firm, previously called Formation Metals, now expects production to start towards the end of next year. 
   
   "The fundamentals for the cobalt market are so strong in a way that they have never been before," says Ms Grant Leydier. "We have a lot of interest from financiers, from potential partners and from potential employees." 
   
   After ore containing cobalt is mined using explosives, it is taken to be refined and turned into metal, blends or chemical concentrates for use in products such as jet engines, drones and batteries. 
   
   More than 60% of the world's cobalt is mined in the DRC, while China is the world's leading producer of refined cobalt. 
   
   But as demand for cobalt has risen, so have concerns in the US about its reliance on imports. 
   
   In February, the US added cobalt to a list of 35 minerals deemed critical to the economy. 
   
   Companies active in the US say they hope their "made in America" status will help speed up government approval for their plans and set their product apart from imports. 
   
   Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A conveyor belt carries chunks of raw cobalt after initial processing at a plant in Lubumbashi, DRC 
   
   They say concerns about corruption and child labour at mines in the DRC have also created pressure for buyers to find new sources of supply. 
   
   "There's a few places where you can get ethically mined cobalt and we want to be one of them," says Michael Hollomon, chief executive of Missouri Cobalt. "We would like to think that that gives us an advantage." 
   
   The company plans to start producing cobalt from an old lead mine in Madison County, Missouri this summer. It has an estimated 35 million pounds of recoverable cobalt, making it the largest such reserve in North America. 
   
   Nevertheless, the realities of where large, high-quality cobalt deposits are found globally mean the US will never be able to completely stop importing cobalt. 
   
   In fact, analysts expect the DRC's share of global production to increase as mining firms boost their activity there. 
   
   China is also expected to remain the world's dominant player for refining cobalt, even as new facilities start operating in Europe, North America and elsewhere in Asia. 
   
   Image copyright Ecobalt Image caption eCobalt has been planning a cobalt mine in Idaho for decades 
   
   Even though US companies remain a tiny fraction of the market, they may find they are able to command a premium price for their materials, says Caspar Rawles, an analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. 
   
   "Every company in the supply chain is looking to reduce their geopolitical risk, so I think any project outside of the DRC is in a strong position in that sense," he says. 
   
   The challenges remain significant, with the cost of setting up a mine running to hundreds of millions of dollars. The volatile price of cobalt presents another uncertainty. 
   
   Meanwhile, the rising cost of cobalt is pushing companies to find ways to reduce reliance on the mineral. 
   
   Gerbrand Ceder at the University of California, Berkeley is conducting research into ways of creating stable batteries that do not need large amounts of cobalt. 
   
   However, he says deploying such technology at scale - especially in cars - is at least five to 10 years away. "I think there will be quite a lot of cobalt used for some time to come." ||||| Children mining cobalt in slave-like conditions as global demand for battery material surges 
   
   Posted 
   
   If you have not spared a thought for cobalt since high school science, then it might be time. 
   
   It is having a boom, and the modern world is increasingly reliant on it — using it to stabilise batteries in phones, computers and electric cars; in fact, it is probably in the device you are using right now. 
   
   But there is a catch. 
   
   Cobalt is mined in a string of countries around the world including Australia, but most of the world's supply comes from just one country in Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — a nation with a long record of poorly-enforced labour standards and child exploitation. 
   
   And because cobalt is in such high demand right now, its global price has soared, doubling over the course of last year. 
   
   According to human rights organisation Amnesty International, that growth has put pressure on miners in the DRC to ramp up production, leading in turn to tens of thousands of children being lured or forced into gruelling and dangerous mine work. 
   
   Amnesty International researcher Lauren Armistead has spent time in the DRC and told the ABC's daily news podcast The Signal the work in the cobalt mines was extremely hazardous, especially without the right protective equipment. 
   
   "The work, by its very nature, is the worst possible form of child labour," Ms Armistead said. 
   
   "Often the children are not engaged in the mine pits themselves, but they will be engaged in tasks such as crushing, transporting, sifting and carrying heavy loads." 
   
   Ms Armistead said she believed a UNICEF estimate made in 2014 — that 40,000 children were toiling illegally in Congolese mines — was now a severe underestimate, given the recent increase in global demand. 
   
   She said the hours the children were working were particularly exploitative — and would be even for adults. 
   
   "Children are sometimes working 12 hours or more," she said. 
   
   "We met one boy, Paul, who said he has been working 24 hours straight down in one of the pits." 
   
   Much of the cobalt mined in the DRC is extracted from small mines, sometimes literally run out of semi-rural backyards. 
   
   Former child labourer Yannick from Kolwezi, a city of more than 500,000 people in the south of the DRC, dropped out of school and went into full-time work at the age of seven. 
   
   "When I was going to the mines it was to look after my family, because there was a lot of suffering," Yannick said. 
   
   "I gave up on studying to help my mother — she was sick, my father was dead, and his family did not look after us." 
   
   Yannick said the work in the mine involved intense physical labour using only a crowbar, and said conditions underground were generally hot and sticky. 
   
   He also described former bosses who insisted their underage employees put in long working days without breaks. 
   
   "People died in the mine, and you could suffocate when you are deep in the mine," he said. 
   
   "When it rained, it created a lot of landslides. 
   
   "When we were working there and when someone hurts himself, we could not even look at him — the person had to go and get treated on his own, as we were there to work. 
   
   "It is not good to let children work at the mines." 
   
   Mine work 'modern day slavery' 
   
   The conditions described by Yannick amount to modern day slavery, according to law experts in Australia who think companies here could do more to isolate their supply chains from exploitative practices. 
   
   Professor Jennifer Burn, a lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney Law School and a spokeswoman for the organisation Anti Slavery Australia, said exploitative workplace practices both here and overseas accounted for at least some of the relatively low cost of electronic goods. 
   
   She supports the Modern Slavery Bill currently awaiting a vote in the Parliament, which would compel an estimated 3,000 Australian companies to conduct annual audits of their supply chain for signs of exploitative practices. 
   
   "When we see goods that are becoming cheaper and cheaper, we should wonder about the source of those goods," Professor Burn said. 
   
   "It's extraordinary for any of us really to go into any of the major supermarkets or department stores and to see how cheap these goods are — we know that they're made overseas, but it's unimaginable really that you can buy a toaster for about $10. 
   
   "The situation in the [DRC] with cobalt mines is slavery — slavery is where a person is treated as if they're an object, and where there are powers exercised over that person as if they are a commodity." 
   
   The Modern Slavery Bill was tabled in the House of Representatives late last month just before parliamentarians adjourned for their winter break. 
   
   It would apply to entities in Australia with an annual consolidated revenue of more than $100 million, and would require them to submit a "Modern Slavery Statement" annually to a new Government-run register. 
   
   A parliamentary committee is currently consulting on the bill, with a final vote due some time before Christmas. 
   
   Topics: mobile-phones, information-and-communication, human-rights, australia, congo-the-democratic-republic-of-the
target: – For the last four decades, cobalt mining has been almost non-existent in the US. That's changing now with what the BBC labels a rush for the precious metal recently named as critical to the US economy. With increases in price and demand for the silver-blue mineral—used in everything from the lithium-ion batteries to jet engines to drones—mining firms that have "never actually gone looking for cobalt" are doing so, says Trent Mell, CEO of Canada-based First Cobalt. His is one of several firms planning to dig for cobalt in the US, including in Idaho and Missouri, over the next several years. Along with the risks—there's availability and price volatility to consider, not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to establish a mine—comes the potential for big rewards. Consumption of cobalt—selling for $32 a pound, up from $20 in early 2011—is on pace to rise 8% to 10% a year, per the BBC. Indeed, some analysts expect to see shortages as soon as 2022. American-mined cobalt could ease the burden and might even fetch a premium price as the US looks to ease its reliance on imports and more companies begin to request ethical sources of the metal. ABC Australia reports that more than 60% of the world's supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Amnesty International claims child slaves toil in mines. Some, however, see the rush as coming too late. Tiberius Group CEO Christoph Eibl tells Bloomberg that "the craziness that you see in cobalt will in many ways actually be corrected." For example, future batteries may use less lithium, he says. "There’s so much uncertainty about how future technologies will be applied."