The clean energy revolution is replacing oil and gas with a new global force: the minerals and metals needed in electric car batteries, solar panels and other forms of renewable energy.
Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich nations are stepping away from their traditional roles in favor of places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, which produces two-thirds of the world's supply of cobalt. The goal of protecting the planet could be at stake in the race between China and the US to get supplies.
The New York Times interviewed more than 100 people on three continents and gathered thousands of pages of documents. Some of the findings are here.
Even as China was positioning itself to dominate the new electric vehicle era, the American government failed to safeguard decades of diplomatic and financial investments it had made.
The sale of two major cobalt reserves in the country by an American mining giant to a Chinese conglomerate marked the end of any major U.S. mining presence in the country.
Chinese battery makers have forged agreements with the mining companies to get the metal.
An industrial copper and cobalt mine is located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The data analysis shows that 15 of the 19 mines in the country were owned or financed by Chinese companies. The companies received at least $12 billion in loans and other financing from state-backed institutions.
Chinese state-backed banks have lines of credit worth $124 billion from the five biggest Chinese mining companies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
China Molybdenum, which bought the two American-owned reserves, described itself to The Times as a pure business entity. 25 percent of the company is owned by a local government.
The American government is helping the Congolese review past mining contracts. They are looking at whether Chinese promises to build infrastructure were kept.
Chinese Molybdenum is accused of withholding payments to the government. The company said it had done nothing wrong, and wondered if there was an organized effort to undermine it.
The spokesman said that China has an expression that says, "Where there is a will to condemn, evidence will follow." I feel that we may be caught in the middle of a bigger game.
One of the biggest mines in the world was owned by an American company. In a series of transactions, it was sold to China Molybdenum for $3.8 billion. A Chinese private equity firm bought out the minority owner of the mine.
Hunter Biden was a founding board member of the private equity firm. According to Chinese financial documents, Mr. Biden is still a shareholder in a Washington company. Chris Clark said his client no longer holds any interest in the Washington and Chinese firms. He is no longer a board member of the Chinese firm. Mr. Biden didn't reply to questions.
A White House spokesman denied that the president had been made aware of his son's connection to the sale.
Increased mining and refining by Chinese companies has helped meet the growing demand. At least a dozen employees or contractors at the Tenke Fungurume mine told The Times that Chinese ownership had led to a decline in safety and an increase in injuries, many of which were not reported to management.
The company said that the complaints were probably not true.
Workers with China Molybdenum at the conglomerate's mine in Kisanfu.
Congress and the Biden administration are making first steps to catch up to the rest of the world in the area of electric vehicles. The legislation passed the House on Friday would provide more than half a trillion dollars to shift the US economy away from fossil fuels.
Amos Hochstein, the State Department's senior adviser for global energy security, predicts that access to solar panels and electric vehicle batteries will determine energy security in the future.
He said that it was a national security imperative that the United States ensure the 21st century doesn't repeat the vulnerabilities of the 20th century.
