BUSINESS INSIDER -- What do cobalt, uranium, helium, titanium, and fluorspar have in common?

According to the U.S. government, these are all minerals that are deemed critical to both the economic and national security of the country.
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The draft list of 35 critical minerals was released on February 16, 2018 as the result of President Trump's Executive Order 13817, which asked the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Secretary of Defense to publish a list of mineral commodities that are vital to U.S. interests.

QUARTZ AFRICA -- ​Apple’s reported move to buy cobalt directly from miners could bring efficiency to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s troubled mining sector, but it will likely only muddle an already murky field.

Cutting out the middleman, Apple reportedly wants to buy cobalt directly from miners, according to a report from Bloomberg on Feb. 21. Relying on anonymous sources, Bloomberg reports that Apple is in talks to buy long-term supplies of the metal. Once an ignored byproduct of copper mining, the demand for cobalt is driven by the world’s reliance on the rechargeable batteries in our smartphones and the shift toward electric vehicles.

The report does not say which miners Apple will be dealing with, and Apple refused to comment on Bloomberg’s story. Glencore, the mining multinational that operates in about 50 countries, has named Apple as one of the main customers it was talking to about cobalt, according to Bloomberg.