Production of hand-dug cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo is poised to drop sharply after prices tumbled, prompting many of the country’s thousands of artisanal miners to switch focus to copper instead. Congo last year produced about 72% of the world’s cobalt, a key ingredient in the rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles and smartphones. While most of the country’s production is from large, mechanized mines run by companies including Glencore, diggers that use rudimentary tools tend to respond more quickly to price changes.
