Cobalt: The Making of a Mining Superpower
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About this ebook
Finalist for the 2023 Trillium Book Award
The world is desperate for cobalt. It drives the proliferation of digital and clean technologies. But this “demon metal” has a horrific present and a troubled history.
The modern search for cobalt has brought investors back to a small town in Northern Canada, a place called Cobalt. Like the demon metal, this town has a dark and turbulent history.
The tale of the early-twentieth-century mining rush at Cobalt has been told as a settler’s adventure, but Indigenous people had already been trading in metals from the region for two thousand years. And the events that happened here — the theft of Indigenous lands, the exploitation of a multicultural workforce, and the destruction of the natural environment — established a template for resource extraction that has been exported around the world.
Charlie Angus reframes the complex and intersectional history of Cobalt within a broader international frame — from the conquistadores to the Western gold rush to the struggles in the Democratic Republic of Congo today. He demonstrates how Cobalt set Canada on its path to become the world’s dominant mining superpower.
Charlie Angus
Charlie Angus has served as the NDP Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay since 2004. In 1985 he formed the Juno-nominated alt-country band Grievous Angels. He became involved in politics through his organizing efforts to stop the Adams Mine garbage proposal and numerous plans to import PCBs to Northern Ontario. He is author/co-author of five books on Northern Ontario life and culture including We Lived a Life and Then Some and Mirrors of Stone.
Read more from Charlie Angus
We Lived a Life and Then Some: The Life, Death, and Life of a Mining Town Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnlikely Radicals: The Story of the Adams Mine Dump War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Cobalt
4 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Author Charlie Angus is a long-time Member of Parliament whose riding includes the northern Ontario town of Cobalt. Today, the world desperately needs the mineral cobalt for digital and green technologies. So, Mr. Angus takes us on a historic look at the troubled history of resource extraction in Canada, notably the theft and destruction of Aboriginal lands. He looks at the role of government in allowing mining companies operating freedom and low taxation rates, leading to Canada's rise as a mining superpower. He looks at the role of women, of immigrant workers and the early union movement. In these ways, he provides a more well-rounded picture of history.In the last part of the book, he looks at how the world of mining would have to change in order to make a comeback that supports environmental and human interests in addition to economic ones. The book is highly readable and thought provoking.