Article in today's Times.
It states that lithium ion batteries as used in mobile phones need Cobalt to make them work.( I do not know anything about this bit of technology, all I Do know is Cobalt is similar to iron, and will be capable of electromagnetism)
Apparently the world's biggest producer of Cobalt is the Congo. Now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kids are being paid as little as 75p a day to scavenge, for missed bits of ore and bash it out of the host rock, and are even encouraged to mine for it!
Most of the ore is sold, surprise, surprise to a Chinese Company.
Apparently some companies have to state that the metals which are used in their products are "conflict free".
This apparently does not apply to Cobalt and Amnesty international are trying to put pressure on the UN to include Cobalt, wth he hope that this exploitation, may be reduced.

From Wiki, re Lithium Ion Batteries (LIB):

Chemistry, performance, cost and safety characteristics vary across LIB types. Handheld electronics mostly use LIBs based on lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO
2), which offers high energy density, but presents safety risks, especially when damaged.

Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4), lithium manganese oxide (LMnO or LMO) and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LiNiMnCoO2 or NMC) offer lower energy density, but longer lives and inherent safety. Such batteries are widely used for electric tools, medical equipment and other roles.

NMC in particular is a leading contender for automotive applications. Lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (LiNiCoAlO2 or NCA) and lithium titanate (Li4Ti5O12 or LTO) are specialty designs aimed at particular niche roles.

The new lithium sulphur batteries promise the highest performance to weight ratio.

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The lamps that we use including Oldham L types use Lithium Ion Phosphate cells because of the better safety margins. Basically, all built around the 18650 (18 X 65 mm) cells.

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I would have thought a lot more cobalt is used for high speed steels than batteries - but maybe that is a false assumption?

I know this is getting a bit off topic but thought it interesting that the scrap value of lithium batteries is minimal. I'd always assumed that the materials made up a lot of the price, hence it would be quite high. I weighed in half a ton of Lead Acid in the Autumn at £450/ton, but was told that lithium fetched a small fraction of this.

Mmm, I have getting on for a ton of separated lead acid battery plates.

;D

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Well worth weighing in I would have thought Roy, probably worth more if you have done the work to separate the plates.

A year or so ago I had around 300ml of mercury to get rid of, had to get it disposed of as waste in the end!