Idaho Cobalt Belt Explored as New Frontier of Ethically Sourced Rare Earth Minerals

A conveyor belt carries chunks of raw cobalt after a first transformation at a plant in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 16, 2018. Samir Tounsi/AFP via Getty Images

An electric battery technology company has expanded its search for domestic cobalt to Idaho.

The Toronto-based Electra Battery Materials Corporation announced on Wednesday that it has acquired a 5.3-square-kilometer (just over two-square-mile) land package that will allow for more exploration of cobalt near the company’s current excavation efforts in the Idaho Cobalt Belt (ICB), a close to 40-mile long and eight-mile-wide cobalt deposit in east-central Idaho.

An exploration and mining revival has come to the ICB with companies seeking to reduce their dependence on foreign-sourced cobalt, a component of electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

“Sourcing domestic supply of cobalt has become even more critical with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act,” Electra’s CEO Trent Mell said in a press release. “While our primary focus continues to centre on the commissioning of North American’s [sic] first cobalt sulfate refinery and launching our battery materials recycling demonstration plant in the coming weeks, advancing exploration activities in the Idaho Cobalt Belt are key to our long-term growth and efforts to onshore the EV battery supply chain.”

In February, the Biden administration secured domestic lithium and cobalt as critical to economic and national security, and directed federal agencies to prioritize the production of minerals that are essential components of rechargeable batteries, computers, and household appliances.

The administration admitted its dependence on foreign sources—with China controlling most of the market—poses a national and economic security threat.

In addition to its investments in companies set to mine for the rare earth minerals in states such as California, Nevada, and Texas, the administration said it would update outdated mining laws and regulations “to promote responsible mining under strong social, environmental, and labor standards.”

The ICB lies beneath the 4.3-million-acre Salmon-Challis National Forest, where the Australian company Jervois has begun its own exploring and mining operations.

Environmental and Social Regulation

Claudio Berti, director and state geologist with the Idaho Geological Survey, told The Epoch Times the emphasis on domestically sourced minerals has brought a considerable increase in exploration to the ICB, which has also raised concerns for environmentally sustainable mining practices.

However, he said, the environmental policies in the United States make domestically sourced cobalt more attractive to companies who want to steer clear of associations with mining in other countries like China and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which he said are known for their absence of regulation that create a larger environmental impact and contribute to violations of human rights through corporate slave labor.

“Though mining is not a clean business, mining in the Western world is a better choice than deferring those operations to countries that have no environmental or social regulation that protects both the environment and the people mining,” he said.

Berti pointed to the DRC as an example of a country that has one of the largest deposits of cobalt that other countries like the United States rely on for their supply.

“So, there’s a lot of interest in trying to produce cobalt in areas where there is control in both environmental and social justice from the beginning so that operators can guarantee the security of those commodities to the customer in a complete and trusted way,” Berti said.