Hacker News Reader

Comment by pkulak | Hacker News Reader

Is cobalt really that rare, or are there just not a lot of mines right now because it hasn't been valuable before? The price of cobalt can triple and it won't add much to battery prices, since it's not that much of the pack. That price, however, will sure make building more mines a good idea.

View on HN

It's mainly mined from the "Democratic Republic" of the Congo, which is a violent country that uses unethical practices in its mining industry. There is speculation to find non-DRC sources of Cobalt, however it's been mentioned in EV articles numerous times in the last few years.

> It's mainly mined from the "Democratic Republic" of the Congo, which is a violent country that uses unethical practices in its mining industry.

That's a euphemism for child slave workforce.

that is who produces most of it today, but it is widely distributed, being found wherever copper and nickel are. Among the top producers after DRC and Russia are Australia and Canada - so there's not going to be some cobalt catastrophe.

Yes, like Cobalt, Ontario. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt,_Ontario

Silver boom town at the begging of 20th century turned into ghost town when the mines have run out of silver, now might turn into boom town again because of how cobalt is used in battery manufacturing.

Hey, just so you know, it seems that you've been hellbanned/shadowbanned. So when you're posting, most people can't see you or respond to you, and your posts are automatically flagged and "killed". It looks like it happened about 7 months ago when you posted some comments about not liking Nazis. Very strange that you're being punished for being vocal about disliking Nazis!

In the oil industry whenever someone says we'll run out of supply, they're shot down by people saying "we'll discover new oilfields or technology will unlock previously inaccessible ones."

Funny how that blind faith in "market prices will figure it out" never applies to renewables.

Perhaps because renewables wouldn't have gotten started if it weren't for subsidies. Was that the right move? Perhaps it was. Seems that way for Wind Power.

It's not entirely blind as is demonstrated by the price history and the similar histories of semiconductor and solar cell prices. That isn't to say that there can't be price shocks or material shortages, but there are quite a few politically and economically motivated naysayers.

> people saying "we'll discover new oilfields or technology will unlock previously inaccessible ones."

To be fair, it's what has been happening so far. Of course it'll stop one day. Also I think oil major are aware of the fact, that's why some of them are investing in renewables (like bio-fuels).

I think the issue with cobalt is that it's produced as a consequence of extraction the copper it occurs with. Meaning no primary ores exist. Some other metals like nickle are also mined as secondary minerals but the current supply dwarfs the amount needed for batteries.

Counter example lithium comes from primary sources. If demand goes up we'll just increase extraction and or bring new sources online.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com