I wouldn't read too much into that. I remember reading an...

I wouldn't read too much into that. I remember reading an article a couple of years back about investing in the Lithium sector. The article basically said that you would have to have rocks in your head for investing in this sector because the "Big 3" ALB, SQM and FMC could produce all the lithium the world could ever use or need. Now there is an article about the demise of the "Big 3". Look at GXY and ORE they are doing well plus all the other up and comers.
Now to the reduction of "cobalt" in batteries. Batteries and Bombs are essentially the same thing, in a sense that they both store and dissipate energy. The difference is how they dissipate their energy, a bomb gives off it's energy in milliseconds. a battery gives off it's energy depending on currant draw. We all know what happens when you get the chemistry wrong, in the case of Samsung (your battery becomes a bomb). Cobalt plays a big part in the chemistry of a battery to keep it stable, so if Tesla and Panasonic are serious about this, they would have planned this at least 5 or 6 years ago (maybe more) in order to do the research and get the chemistry right. The other option is that Tesla and Panasonic are powerful companies and they are using their power to bring down the cost of the raw materials they use. Also the Chinese have invested huge amounts of money in Cobalt, and i think they would have done their homework, don't you think?
The Cobalt market is going to be a lot bigger than just Tesla and Panasonic, because demand out strips supply by a long shot (even if Tesla and Panasonic reduce the cobalt in their batteries).