Uses of Cobalt:

Cobalt is used in many alloys & super alloys to make parts in aircraft engines, gas turbines, high-speed steels, corrosion-resistant alloys, and cemented carbides.

It is used in magnets and magnetic recording media.

It is also used as a catalyst for the petroleum and chemical industries. Used as drying agents for paints and inks.

It is blue is majorly used by artists and is used by craft workers in porcelain, stained-glass pottery, enamel jeweller, and tiles.

The radioactive isotope, cobalt-60, is used in medical treatment and also to irradiate food. It is used in order to preserve the food and protect the consumer.

‘When asked by Rogan if there was any cobalt mine in the Congo that did not rely on “child labour” or “slavery”, Prof Kara told him there were none.’

Look at the Congo's population pyramid, its citizens are very young, over half are teenagers or younger: https://www.populationpyramid.net/congo/

The alternatives to child labor are: - Leave Cobalt in the ground due to lack of workers - Starves the economy - Damages government finances, potentially destabilizing the situation further - Import workers from other countries - High costs relative to local labor - Poor worker treatment (see guest worker programs in UAE, Qatar, etc) - Buy equipment to mechanize production - Requires significant capital - May require significant research and development - Requires infrastructure (power, water, roads, etc) that is not developed currently - Takes decades to implement

There isn't a good way out of this situation without an outside benefactor spending massive sums of money, and Apple and every other significant Cobalt purchaser would rather have cheap inputs than disturb the current state of affairs.

Thankfully there will soon be better batteries that do not need cobalt.

But the real problem isn’t batteries. It’s politics.