Randy Waterfield, CEO of the Waterfield Group, one of the largest private financial institutions in the US, recently had the Waterfield Group join with Environmental Operations to purchase a large cobalt mine in Missouri. Cobalt, once considered a low-value mining byproduct, is now highly sought after due to its more than doubling in price since 2017 and importance in lithium-ion batteries used in electronics and electric vehicles. The biggest cobalt reserves are in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with additional supplies in China, Russia, Norway, and Finland, and some electronics companies are working to secure direct supplies from mining operations.