Browsing: Cobalt

The search for Congo’s cobalt has shown how the clean energy revolution has taken a turn. It is to save the planet from rising temperatures in an age of enlightened self-interest. But it has become mired in a familiar cycle of exploitation, greed, and deception. This often benefits Africa little or not at all.

On November 24, 2021, a group of G7 countries, including Japan and the US made a decision. They stated they will withdraw crude oil from their Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (SPR). The SPR was an underground salt tank in Utah, turned into a recession and warproof facility. It was in reaction to the twin World Trade Center explosions on September 11, 2001.…

For many in Africa, the concept of an electric vehicle is still new, by the time these futuristic automobiles become popular in Africa, land rights in the Congo may very well be buried deep in the cobalt mines.

 Did you know, the Democratic Republic of the Congo produces more than half of the world’s supply of cobalt? You probably did not, neither did I. Here is another fun fact, did you know cobalt is the mineral that powers your phone battery, your laptop battery and most all your rechargeable batteries?

I bet you were also not aware that this bluish mineral that is found in a dull brownish ore of dirt is used in hospital labs for imaging, for cancer radiotherapy and even for sterilizing medical equipment.

Cobalt is also in the component that stores solar energy in the solar panels that have now become popular solution to Africa’s energy …