RE:Biden administrator plans to fund Canadian mining
" ..The Russian invasion of Ukraine has not simply exposed Europe's dangerous dependence on Russian oil and gas. The war has also underscored a less appreciated but equally worrisome vulnerability in the industrial West to threats that could hamper access to minerals vital to the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
Cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel, and rare earth elements (REEs) are all essential for producing electric vehicles and batteries, harnessing solar power and wind energy, and other actions to reduce the reliance of consumers and industries on fossil fuels. The supply of these critical minerals is vulnerable for various reasons. One is that production and processing of these minerals take place in a small number of countries, including some that have unstable political environments.
Equally concerning, reserves of critical minerals outside the United States are owned largely by a handful of governments, most notably China, with the power to interfere with their supply. The United States has reserves of some of these minerals, but the US government does not have direct control over their production or processing unless it invokes legislation such as the Defense Production Act of 1950.
COBALT: CHINA AND THE GLASENBERG FAMILY ARE THE MAJOR PLAYERS
Cobalt is used in rechargeable battery electrodes and to manufacture superalloys. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is by far the largest producer (69 percent), followed by Russia in distant second place. Some countries have large reserves but have not yet commenced production (e.g., Indonesia). But a different picture emerges when looking at where the firms operating cobalt mines are incorporated. The top producers are incorporated in the United Kingdom/Switzerland (Glencore and Eurasian Natural Resources) and China (China Molybdenum and Metorex). Firms incorporated in the DRC exploit only 3.5 percent of global output.
Chinese shareholders control the two firms that account for 13.8 percent of the world output and about 24 percent of output produced by large firms that are known and active. The Glasenberg family (from South Africa) is the top shareholder in Glencore, which accounts for 19.3 percent of world output. The two largest players in cobalt are, therefore, not the DRC and Russia, but rather the Glasenberg family and China. Europe has no presence....." ..