QUESTION $1[8$ Marks$]$

According to the article, $$The cobalt expansion is largely thanks to billions of dollars of investment by Chinese firms on refineries that dish out a chemical cocktail containing cobalt as well as nickel. The biggest global nickel producer Tsingshan Holding Group, cobalt refining giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt and the top battery manufacturer known as CATL are among investors.$$

With the aid of a comprehensively labelled diagram of the $$Input$-$Transformation$-$Output$$ process, discuss the operations of a Cobalt refinery. In your discussion, highlight the importance of cobalt as a valuable metal, which is extensively used in a wide range of industrial and military applications and Africa $($i$.$e$.,$ Republic of the Congo$)$ as the leading producer of cobalt globally, the main transformed and transforming inputs, and the outputs of the transformation process. Please note that a generic discussion of the transformation process without relating it to the operations of a Cobalt refinery is not acceptable.