(a) Argentina
(b) Botswana
(c) The Democratic Republic Of the Congo
(d) Kazakhstan
Ans: c
Explanation:
Democratic Republic Of the Congo (DRC) is the world’s largest producer of cobalt from mines, accounting for over 70 per cent of global cobalt mine production in 2023. DRC is also Africa’s leading producer of copper.
Cobalt is a silver-grey, hard, and lustrous metal that is only found in the Earth’s crust in chemically combined form. Cobalt is, therefore, primarily mined as a byproduct of nickel and copper mining. From there, cobalt is produced by reductive smelting.
DRC has by far the world’s largest reserves of cobalt. Cobalt is primarily used in lithium-ion batteries for electric devices such as laptops and electric vehicles.
Hence, option c is correct.
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