Cobalt: Cradle of the Demon Metals, Birth of a Mining Superpower

· Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Charles Constant
Audiobook
6 hr 25 min
Unabridged
Eligible
Ratings and reviews aren’t verified  Learn More
Want a 42 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline. 
Add

About this audiobook

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 settle'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.

About the author

Charlie Angus has been the Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay since 2004. He is the author of eight books about the North, Indigenous issues, and mining culture, including the award-winning Children of the Broken Treaty.

Charles Constant is an actor whose professional storytelling career began at the age of thirteen, when he became an Actors' Equity Association apprentice. An accomplished audiobook narrator, Charles has recorded many popular titles, including How to Win at the Sport of Business by Mark Cuban. He lives in Los Angeles.

Rate this audiobook

Tell us what you think.

Listening information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.