ABC News In-Depth (online) says: “If you own a mobile phone, if you power your home with renewable energy or drive an electric vehicle, then these minerals are already playing a key part in your life.”
The Broken Hill Cobalt Project is addressing the mining and processing of cobalt. This critical mineral is most at risk globally, according to Project Blue, a provider of market intelligence on energy transition supply chains and critical materials. Their Critical Materials Risk Index 2022 scored cobalt high in terms of supply risk because:
- it is extracted mostly as a by-product of other mining
- cobalt mine and refined production is highly concentrated in the DRC and China
- its Environment Social Government (ESG) risk score is high, owing to ongoing social issues in Central Africa
- its economic importance score was high due to its role in lithium-ion batteries, aerospace, and other critical applications.
The Broken Hill Cobalt Project offers an ethical source of cobalt, which is unique globally for very important reasons. We have an enormous deposit of cobalt in pyrite at Broken Hill, which is extremely rare anywhere in the world. Cobalt Blue has also created the world’s first process that can extract the cobalt and create a commercial, battery-ready product.