Logan discovered cobalt in 1884 at the future site of the Agaunico Mine, one mile south of Haileybury.

Later that year, Tom Hébert found a rich vein on the east side of Cobalt Lake and began a business with hotel owner Arthur Ferland.

In 1904, Willet Miller, on a visit to Mile 104 on the T&NO, along with brothers Noah and Henry Timmins, named the future town Cobalt.

[4]: 18 Speculation over mining stocks on Wall Street in New York City required mounted police to control the crowds.

Those who learned their trade in Cobalt moved north, discovering gold in Kirkland Lake and Timmins and further afield in Canada and around the world.

Half the town was destroyed; 150 buildings were lost and 3,000 residents left homeless; by that time the water table had been contaminated and a typhoid outbreak earlier in the year had killed 111 people.

[13] On a hot and windy Victoria Day in 1977, a discarded cigarette started a fire that destroyed 140 buildings and left over 400 homeless.

[16] When Haileybury and New Liskeard were amalgamated into the city of Temiskaming Shores in 2004, Cobalt decided to remain a separate town.

[17] Cobalt is a byproduct of silver mining and was not of significant interest as a mineral until recently; in fact, many considered it to be a "nuisance".

[18] Today, however, it is a critical component in the types of rechargeable lithium battery used in millions of mobile devices and in electric cars,[19] and demand is expected to increase.

[24] Roughly 60% of the world's cobalt is mined in the Congo, much of it using child labour in very poor working conditions.

The CEO of First Cobalt made this comment after returning from a trip to the U.S., Europe, Australia and Asia: "We've got some of the biggest resource companies in the world interested".

Millions of tons of mine waste rock and mill tailings were dumped on the land and in local lakes.

[37] The Cobalt area is also laced with many miles of underground mine workings, surface trenches, pits and shaft openings.

As a result, there are risks of collapse, or subsidence of underground mine workings, and many areas have been fenced off to prevent entry.

[40] On February 14, 2008, plans were announced to convert the vacant Fraser Hotel building into a complex which will include The Bunker museum, housing units, tourist accommodations, and a proposed culinary school.