Everyone Wants Cobalt, but Few Want to Get Tangled up in the World’s Largest Producing Nation

Oct 2, 2017 | Lynsey Chutel
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For too long, the Democratic Republic of Congo has known no competition in the cobalt market, to its detriment. The metal, which used to be just a byproduct of nickel and copper mining, is fast becoming one of the core ingredients of our technology-driven lifestyles. The instability in the DR Congo, however, is driving some investors to look to much smaller but more reliable cobalt sources. Earlier this year, Canada began to notice the makings of a cobalt rush, starting in the town of Cobalt, Ontario—named for the mineral that was discovered there. More than a century ago, the region was the site of an old-fashioned silver rush, but its resources were soon eclipsed by Africa’s offering. Prospectors are again returning to the town of Cobalt: By May this year, more than a dozen mining companies had staked their claim in the Canadian town, the Northern Prospectors Association told Canada’s CBC. One of those is First Cobalt, a Toronto mining company. In mid-September, the company said it would be pulling out of DR Congo just months after it signed a deal over copper and cobalt prospecting in the country.