[cogman10]

Nope. This is a misconception.

Batteries don't have rare-earth materials in them. Lithium, nickel, and iron are very plentiful in the US. The "rarest" of materials that might be mined is Cobalt. That, however isn't because it's a hard to find. Rather, cobalt has basically no industrial applications outside of battery production. And, importantly, not all battery chemistries require cobalt, just the nickel manganese cobalt batteries.

Idaho has a cobalt mine that's not currently in operation. The reason is because demand is super low and the artisanal mines in africa are cheaper than spinning up a full industrial mine.

[quickthrowman]

> Rather, cobalt has basically no industrial applications outside of battery production.

Cobalt is a part of high speed steel and all kinds of metal alloys that have specialized applications, almost 40% of cobalt is used for metallurgical purposes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt#Applications

[mitthrowaway2]

Also in high performance magnetic steel, as well as SmCo magnets.

[cogman10]

I missed this the last time I looked. I'm guessing it doesn't get pulled as much for steel because of recycling?

[pfannkuchen]

> artisanal mines in africa

Just want to say this is an entertaining euphemism. It isn’t that labor conditions are poor and work is done by hand, it’s “artisanal mining”.

[WarmWash]

That's literally what they are called.

[readthenotes1]

Because "death traps for children" might be perceived negatively by some