What China refines and processes is not mined in China but...

What China refines and processes is not mined in China but around the world in mines that China owns, or controls through long-term supply contracts.

Take cobalt, a critical mineral which is a byproduct of copper and nickel mining and vital to America’s economy and military. This element is necessary for lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, superalloys in jet engines, and permanent magnets in advanced electronics.

The cobalt market today depends significantly on a single country: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The country possesses 46% of global cobalt reserves with only 0.9% in the United States. Chinese-backed companies own or have financial interests in fifteen of nineteen cobalt mines in the DRC, granting China control over about 50% of the DRC’s cobalt mining capacity. Consequently, China wields significant influence over the world’s cobalt ore supply.

China’s real leverage is on the refining/processing side of the commodity equation. China refines 72% of the world’s cobalt, while the United States refines zero percent. While getting cobalt ore is one thing, coming up with ways to refine it more cleanly and recycle is another more pressing concern.

This why companies such as Volkswagen are searching the world, from Canada to Indonesia, for battery supplies for electric vehicles it sells in the US and Europe that are now 100% reliant on China with the goal to reduce that number to below 50% as soon as possible.

DYOR

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