Cobalt is important for U.S. national security. It is a key element in advanced technologies, including lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, superalloys in jet engines, and permanent magnets in missile motors and wind turbines. Yet, the United States depends 100 percent on foreign imports and secondary scrap materials for its cobalt consumption because there’s presently no no cobalt refining here. Furthermore, the federal government has sold 13,000 tons of cobalt from the National Defense Stockpile, depleting reserves to only 333 tons. In short, the United States lacks both cobalt reserves in the National Defense Stockpile and cobalt refining capacity.
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