America’s only cobalt mine opened last year to great fanfare, as the mineral is crucial for green energy. But it surprisingly closed just months later.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
2023 is the hottest year on record. It’s also a year when many countries have invested billions in electric vehicles. The batteries to power them contain some hard to find materials and locking down sources for those materials is not easy, as Stacey Vanek Smith reports.
STACEY VANEK SMITH, BYLINE: Last October, some major VIPs gathered at a landmark event to celebrate a great stride in the reduction of fossil fuel use.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Good afternoon everyone.
VANEK SMITH: It was a good old-fashioned ribbon cutting.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: We even have scissors.
VANEK SMITH: The governor, people from the Commerce Department, even some diplomats were there.
ARTHUR SINODINOS: I’m Arthur Sinodinos, the Australian ambassador to the U.S.
VANEK SMITH: To get to this ribbon cutting, Sinodinos flew across the country and braved 30 miles of unpaved, switchback roads to get to a remote mine 8,000 feet up in Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains.
SINODINOS: I’m really stoked to be here. I’m out in the middle of nowhere with some of my best friends for the opening of their cobalt mine.
VANEK SMITH: That would be the only cobalt mine in the U.S. Cobalt is an essential ingredient in the batteries that power our phones and electric cars, but it can be hard to find. The mountains here have one of the only known deposits in the U.S. Bryce Crocker heads Jervois Global, the Australian company that owns the mine.
BRYCE CROCKER: Cobalt is critical. So it was a huge opportunity. And obviously, this is why we’ve invested.
VANEK SMITH: Right now, most of the cobalt the U.S. and its allies use come from mines that are owned or controlled by China or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and that is a potential problem. Car…
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