The geopolitics of cobalt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

Abstract

The name “cobalt” comes from the German word kobold, which translates as “goblin” or “evil spirit.” When sixteenth-century miners in Saxony discovered the metal, they thought they had stumbled upon silver, yet it was later revealed that the ores were poor in metals that were known at the time. Upon smelting, the ore (where cobalt is twinned with arsenic, resulting in cobalt arsenide) was found to produce poisonous fumes and became known for causing “mischievous effects” upon miners’ health. Then, as now, the element had a dubious reputation.

Although once it was feared for its toxic health effects, today the focus is more on the adverse consequences that cobalt’s scarcity could have on Western economies. Meanwhile, human rights organizations are concerned about the poisonous effects that cobalt can have on the communities where it is extracted and the social misery its production sometimes inflicts. Goethe’s Faust contains the line “and Kobold shall slave,” which has a timely resonance given the Faustian pacts some have made in order to secure access to this critical material, which indeed slaves away at the heart of modern energy storage devices.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)62–79
Number of pages18
JournalAmerican Affairs
VolumeV
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - 31 Dec 2021

Keywords

  • Cobalt
  • Critical materials
  • strategic elements
  • energy
  • batteries
  • renewable energy
  • sustainable energy
  • sustainability
  • mining
  • ESG
  • Environmental governance

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