If you need to have upfront payment for an offtake agreement (to...

If you need to have upfront payment for an offtake agreement (to pay for the ore), why would the offtake partner be paying a premium?? They would expect a discount to market price for opportunity cost on the money invested, plus are taking a risk that the cobalt will be delivered.
If WFE don't get upfront payments for the offtake, then how do they pay for the ore??

Everyone is claiming 'ethical mining' methods these days (audited by independent international groups etc), so probably no premium to others. (see Chemaf, Metalkol, Somika etc web pages, all claiming same.).