Glencore Plc is negotiating a long-term contract to ship cobalt to Tesla Inc.’s new electric-vehicle factory in Shanghai. Direct deals with miners are rare in the automotive industry, and the agreements between Glencore, Tesla and BMW are a sign carmakers are concerned about securing sufficient cobalt from ethical sources. Nearly three-quarters of the world’s cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and as much of 20% of the country’s output is produced at informal makeshift mines where fatalities and human-rights abuses are commonplace.
Read more via: Bloomberg.com