He said what he saw in Kolwezi shocked him more than anything he'd seen before, as "the severity and scale of human degradation and exploitation at the bottom of global supply chains, it just really shook me."Īt mine sites he visited, "people were caked in toxic filth, children caked in toxic grime and filth and scrounging in pits, trenches and tunnels to gather cobalt bearing ore and feed it up the supply chain," he said. How many hours a day do the children work. Half of the world’s cobalt reserves can be found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where cobalt mines have been linked to hazardous working conditions and child labor. Siddharth Kara is a researcher in modern slavery and recently published a book on the cobalt rush. Department of Labor added lithium-ion batteries to a list of goods produced by child labor, specifically because of children involved in the mining of cobalt in the country. Mine collapses have caused hundreds of deaths and injuries. We work to end child labour in DR Congo’s cobalt mines. Artisanal mining is often done with no personal protective equipment, in chaotic conditions. Photos: The city of Kolwezi in satellite images from 20, shows the rapid expansion of cobalt mines.īut this shadow economy is often dangerous and rife with human rights violations, observers said. The Commodities Note Ethics of cobalt mining must be taken seriously by traders Buyers need to create common standards and metrics to govern extraction process Artisanal miners at a cobalt. News The small cost to end child mining is not a price Big Tech is willing to pay By Maya Shwayder DecemWhen he visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), human rights. Satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs shows the dramatic growth of copper and cobalt mines in and around Kolwezi over the last 5 years as demand has skyrocketed.
The Biden administration in January released a memorandum of understanding with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring Zambia, outlining plans to help strengthen the African countries' EV battery supply chain. The shocking state of child labourers mining for cobalt in Africa has been thrust into the global spotlight after tech giants Apple, Google, Microsoft, Tesla and Dell were sued this week for their. But now, the world is turning to it for its essential role in lithium-ion batteries for phones and electric vehicles, or EVs. Cobalt, which is mainly produced as a byproduct of copper and nickel, was ignored for a long time in favor of those more in-demand minerals. The Democratic Republic of the Congo produces an estimated 70% of the world's cobalt, and most of it comes from the city of Kolwezi. LONDON - As officials around the world call for a transition to a greener economy, one city is being transformed to accommodate the growing demand for one important mineral: cobalt. Google parent Alphabet, Apple, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla won’t have to face a class action suit claiming the tech giants bear responsibility for the alleged use of child labour in Congo to mine.
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