The United States Development Finance Corporation invested $25 million in a company that will help to develop a Brazilian nickel and cobalt mine. The U.S. and a growing number of European countries are becoming increasingly concerned about China’s dominance of the global cobalt supply chain, given the element’s strategic importance to vital industries including electric vehicles and aerospace among others.

China’s a major player on both the production and processing sides of the cobalt supply chain. This is especially true in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where some of China’s largest state-owned mining companies are present.