Last week I had the amazing opportunity to visit the Jervois Cobalt mine near Salmon, Idaho for the Wall Street Journal. I have wanted to cover this story for ages and I'm so grateful to @breanna.denney for thinking of me for this assignment.
This is the only cobalt mine in the United States and cobalt is an essential ingredient in rechargeable batteries. Although the mine is ready to start extracting the metal, the cost of production is too high so the mine is dormant, waiting for the price of cobalt to rise. Most cobalt is mined in DRC and is used by China.
Portrait is of Executive General Manager Matt Lengerich, who generously took me around the mine and taught me a ton about cobalt and a thing or two about how to make little kids like hiking.
#mining #cobalt #idaho #renewableenergy #photojournalism #salmonidaho #supplychain #salmonchallisnationalforest #climatechange
