Apple actually does this with a few different commodities. It sources Aluminium directly from mines and smelters in Australia [1], and prefers these type of deals over buying materials on dubious secondary markets like it is forced to do for Tantalum for batteries [2]. Before he became CEO, Tim Cook ran the entire supply chain for Apple and before that for HP/Compaq and he became a master of doing big deals to lock up global materials supplies to make it much harder for competitors to compete [3]. As a consequence Apple is known to have one of the most efficient large scale supply chains in tech.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-apple-forced-microsoft-to-build-a-tablet-2012-6" rel="nofollow">https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-apple-forced-microsof...</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2015/02/13/where-apple-gets-tantalum-your-iphone-304351.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.newsweek.com/2015/02/13/where-apple-gets-tantalum...</a><p>[3] <a href="http://fortune.com/2009/02/19/report-apple-has-cornered-the-flash-memory-market/" rel="nofollow">http://fortune.com/2009/02/19/report-apple-has-cornered-the-...</a>
This seems less about scarcity and more about Apple protecting their brand.<p>> ...child labor is still used in parts of the mining industry.<p>> ...Apple has stepped up its engagement with cobalt suppliers after the origin of the metal in its supply chain came under scrutiny from human rights groups.<p>A great many of Apple's customers care a lot about this kind of thing. Also, Apple may genuinely feel like they're obligated to be a leader in this area.
Maybe it's time to reopen the cobalt mines close by here [1].
Today it's a museum but at one point it supplied 80% of the worlds cobalt needs, mainly for colouring.<p>I wonder at what price level it would become profitable again. It was closed in 1898.<p>[1]<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaafarvev%C3%A6rket" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaafarvev%C3%A6rket</a>
Poor Gorillas.<p>Their habitat is threatened by rare metal miners in Congo.<p>It was already bad without electric cars, just with phone battery demand.<p>[42] <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/article/grauers-gorillas-bushmeat-conflict-minerals-technology" rel="nofollow">http://www.wired.co.uk/article/grauers-gorillas-bushmeat-con...</a><p>[64] <a href="http://www.mining.com/illegal-mining-in-congo-wiping-out-gorilla-populations/" rel="nofollow">http://www.mining.com/illegal-mining-in-congo-wiping-out-gor...</a>
This is scary and shows the growth of electric cars might not scale. The world's richest company, Apple, is buying up supplies of a dwindling resource that anything that uses a battery needs. This is the boost for others to research other car technology or a new battery that is always 10 years away for the last 20 years.
I don't see how this helps with the child labor problem that they were criticized for by Amnesty International. How do you "buy directly from the miners" and verify that the miners are actually the miners doing the work? I mean, is Apple going to send people into the mine to buy the ore as it falls from the pick?