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by philipkglass 2380 days ago
You can't just set up a new artisanal cobalt mine wherever labor is cheapest because cobalt deposits don't exist everywhere. The DRC has the largest cobalt reserves in the world. Australia is in second place. Australia won't use child labor or artisanal mining if buyers have to switch to Australian cobalt from Congolese cobalt.

Global cobalt reserves by country:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/264930/global-cobalt-res...