US Cancels $500 Million Cobalt Tender in Critical Minerals Blow

The US Defense Department canceled a tender to buy cobalt, in a fresh sign of the challenges facing Western countries trying to bolster domestic supplies of the battery metal.

The Defense Logistics Agency first sought offers in mid-August for up to 7,500 tons of cobalt over the next five years in a contract worth as much as $500 million. It was the US government’s first attempt to acquire the metal since 1990, Bloomberg News previously reported.