Marina Schwarz + 1,576 February 2, 2018 Cobalt is already on a rally and it will accelerate: The Democratic Republic of Congo just lifted a legislative provision that miners with existing [presence in the country are exempt from higher royalties and taxes. Now they will classify cobalt as a strategic substance taxed at 10% from 2% at the moment and then watch the price go sky-high. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TraderTate + 186 TS February 2, 2018 This is a desperate attempt because there's a ton of pressure on consumers to source cobalt from somewhere else. This is already pretty much classified as 'conflict cobalt', mined by kids in deplorable conditions. Serious buyers are looking elsewhere, and that's what makes it so tantalizing for new explorers who hope to fill in this supply gap, since DRC accounts for about 60% of the world's existing supply.  Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blockchainbull + 26 CM February 4, 2018 But when you add the new blockchain plans to this equation, DRC might start looking a bit better. They're going to start using the blockchain to track cobalt from mines to end-users (phones, EVs, etc). So that will help with the transparency. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kate Turlington + 44 KT February 4, 2018 I hear they already use blockchain to track diamonds, but cobalt is a lot more difficult. So many artisanal mines. Not sure I see how this is going to really work. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites