Well... most current lithium battery chemistries absolutely require cobalt, and given the demand for EVs and grid-scale PV storage there's bound to be a lot of interest for it.

Unfortunately for cobalt miners, there's significant r&d investment into chemistries free of materials which are dominantly sourced from questionable countries/conditions - some driven by preparation for trade conflicts, and some driven by law (EU supply chain / anti slavery acts). And that is yielding its first results, e.g. [1].

[1] https://www.global.toshiba/ww/technology/corporate/rdc/rd/to...