Posted on 12/16/2023 8:21:33 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Net zero’s dirty little secret is the African child labor and China’s forced labor for mining cobalt. But what that also means is that the United States is heavily dependent on our existential enemy and child labor for one of the most important minerals in modern society.
Even NPR recognizes the problem. “Right now, most of the cobalt the US and its allies use comes from mines that are owned or controlled by China or the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the outlet reported. Of course, NPR did not explain that those supposedly wonderfully eco-friendly electric cars, besides being unreliable, are a lot dirtier than environmentalists admit, precisely because of that cobalt mining for their batteries.
But our phones also require cobalt. The need for lithium ion batteries made relatively unimportant cobalt a highly desired substance within the last few decades. The U.S. was set to have one cobalt mine in Idaho, but it closed before starting to operate. We need these mines — not to chase the Biden administration’s impossible “net zero” dreams, but because the electronics that form such a key part of our society require cobalt.
I previously highlighted the ethical concerns around cobalt mining for electric vehicle (EV) batteries. According to “Ethical Consumer” in 2022: “70% of the world’s cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo.” But there’s a massive child labor problem in the DRC. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), child labor is involved in Congo’s cobalt ore, copper, diamond, gold, tantalum ore, tin ore, and tungsten ore mining.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Can’t see the Cobalt mined by child labor from my house, oh and my lovely teal Telsa helps me save the planet from those evil Nazis like Trump….. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
From an NPR article:
But then, something rather shocking happened. The price of cobalt–around $40 a pound in early 2022–started to drop. The price fell from $40 a pound to $35. It was at $25 a pound by the time everyone was gathered in the mountains of Idaho for the ribbon-cutting.
"After that, the cobalt price steadily collapsed," Crocker recalls. The price hit $15 a pound. At that price, Jervois would lose money pulling the cobalt out of the ground. So, just weeks before the mine was set to open, Crocker made a tough call.
Current price for cobalt on the spot market is 13.00 USD per pound.
Crocker says as soon as the price rises to at least $20 a pound, he will be able to open the mine in a matter of weeks... recut that ribbon and start digging.
Let's crunch some numbers!
2,600,000 pounds of cobalt divided by 12 months = 216,667 pounds a month.
Make up the difference between 20 bucks a pound and 13 bucks a pound - 7 bucks.
216,667 pounds times 7 bucks = $1,516,667, about $1.5 million dollars.
We just forked over 200 million to the Piano Puppet in the Ukraine.
200 million divided by 1.5 million = 133 months = 11 years.
We could subsidize that mine for at least 10 years easily on the grift cash we just gave to The Vloddy.
From an NPR article:
But then, something rather shocking happened. The price of cobalt–around $40 a pound in early 2022–started to drop. The price fell from $40 a pound to $35. It was at $25 a pound by the time everyone was gathered in the mountains of Idaho for the ribbon-cutting.
"After that, the cobalt price steadily collapsed," Crocker recalls. The price hit $15 a pound. At that price, Jervois would lose money pulling the cobalt out of the ground. So, just weeks before the mine was set to open, Crocker made a tough call.
Current price for cobalt on the spot market is 13.00 USD per pound.
Crocker says as soon as the price rises to at least $20 a pound, he will be able to open the mine in a matter of weeks... recut that ribbon and start digging.
Let's crunch some numbers!
2,600,000 pounds of cobalt divided by 12 months = 216,667 pounds a month.
Make up the difference between 20 bucks a pound and 13 bucks a pound - 7 bucks.
216,667 pounds times 7 bucks = $1,516,667, about $1.5 million dollars.
We just forked over 200 million to the Piano Puppet in the Ukraine.
200 million divided by 1.5 million = 133 months = 11 years.
We could subsidize that mine for at least 10 years easily on the grift cash we just gave to The Vloddy.
From an NPR article:
But then, something rather shocking happened. The price of cobalt–around $40 a pound in early 2022–started to drop. The price fell from $40 a pound to $35. It was at $25 a pound by the time everyone was gathered in the mountains of Idaho for the ribbon-cutting.
"After that, the cobalt price steadily collapsed," Crocker recalls. The price hit $15 a pound. At that price, Jervois would lose money pulling the cobalt out of the ground. So, just weeks before the mine was set to open, Crocker made a tough call.
Current price for cobalt on the spot market is 13.00 USD per pound.
Crocker says as soon as the price rises to at least $20 a pound, he will be able to open the mine in a matter of weeks... recut that ribbon and start digging.
Let's crunch some numbers!
2,600,000 pounds of cobalt divided by 12 months = 216,667 pounds a month.
Make up the difference between 20 bucks a pound and 13 bucks a pound - 7 bucks.
216,667 pounds times 7 bucks = $1,516,667, about $1.5 million dollars.
We just forked over 200 million to the Piano Puppet in the Ukraine.
200 million divided by 1.5 million = 133 months = 11 years.
We could subsidize that mine for at least 10 years easily on the grift cash we just gave to The Vloddy.
Now this is in our National Interest.
Much of the DRC’s cobalt is under the influence or control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which also has a modest little goal of taking down America and dominating the world.
Plus from Mining.com article:
What China’s increasing control over cobalt resources in the DRC means for the West – report
https://www.mining.com/what-chinas-increasing-control-over-cobalt-resources-in-the-drc-means-for-the-west-report/
So what is China doing just like a good capitalist?
1. Hook the customer on the need for your product. China has used all means to convince the West we need EVs.
2. Gain control directly and indirectly over the source of the product.
3. Lower cost of production which lowers cost of product below Western production costs.
4. Lower prices in the market below Western competition cost, therefore closing the competition’s production. Drive Western product out of business with losses and environmental issues.
With monopoly control over key material component, use that control to maximize profit and/or punish West when necessary. West needs EVs because the environmental movement (communism) kills the ICE car production. West need cobalt which only China and their surrogates can provide. China demands all types of concessions, monetary and political or China goes to war and West has no more cobalt. Oh did I mention that China hooked the West on cobalt and KILLED the West’s ONLY alternative, IEC powered vehicles?
Hard to compete with slave labor.
My neighbor was born and raised in the Congo. White as me. He has seen the horrors of that African s hole with his own eyes.
Yep.
“Can’t see the Cobalt mined by child labor from my house, oh and my lovely teal Telsa helps me save the planet from those evil Nazis like Trump….”
Right. And as long as they can symbolically put their fingers in their ears and sing “lalalala” to drown out the inconvenient truths behind it all, lefties can continue to pretend that they’re actually doing something “”good”” for the planet via their asinine policies and phony baloney green energy schemes.
It’s truly amazing how many people even right here in the USA have managed to become so totally unhinged and untethered to reality.
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