Soaring cobalt prices threaten smartphones industry worldwide

PanARMENIAN.Net - The production of electric cars, smartphones and high-tech gadgets could be in jeopardy as a result of a rapid rise in prices for cobalt, RT says.

Cobalt is a critical metal for Lithium-ion batteries, whose price jumped from $33,200 to $75,000 per ton in a single year.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that the main supplier of cobalt - the Democratic Republic of the Congo - is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries of the world, where workers, including children, labor in harsh and dangerous conditions to meet the world's soaring demand for cobalt.

According to Statista, the world's cobalt reserves in 2016 amounted to a little over 6 million tons.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, in particular, cobalt reserves amount to 3.4 million tons, 1 million tons in Australia, 500,000 tons in Cuba, 290,000 tons in the Philippines, 270,000 tons in Canada, 270 thousand tons in Zambia, and 250 thousand tons in Russia.