Cobalt

December 6, 2021
Canadian MP Angus reveals in this harrowing history the damaging legacy of resource extraction in his country. He notes that the demand for cobalt, a key component in electric vehicles, smartphones, and laptops, has brought investors and mining companies back to Cobalt, Ontario, where railway workers discovered silver in 1903, sparking a silver rush that, by 1906, had seen “more than $3.6 million... dug from the ground.” Angus links the Guggenheim family and other investors who began to dominate the region’s mining interests to the extermination of local Indigenous tribes, environmental destruction, and fraudulent investment schemes. He also notes that unlike in the U.S., where “a steady march of settlers” opened the West, the history of mining in Canada centered around the creation of “outposts” such as Cobalt, which “was treated by officials as little more than an industrial worksite where thousands of families lived.” Offering massive financial incentives, and few, if any, safety or environmental regulations, these economically devastated “hinterlands” now litter Canada, according to Angus. As modern-day prospectors return to Cobalt (where the namesake metal was often discarded during the silver boom), Angus strikes a persuasive note of caution. This immersive history includes a trenchant warning about the unknown costs of the race to a clean energy future.