Should we care about where the materials used to make the things we own come from? Is it important to know how the laborers are treated who make our products?
The smartphone that you own, the green electric car that you hope to buy - do you know where some of the raw materials that go into making these, come from?
Cobalt is the most important ingredient in the Lithium ion battery that drives your, the other approx 3.5 billion smartphones & each electric car out there.
So, where does Cobalt come from?
More than 60% of the world's cobalt supply comes from Congo in Africa.
A third of it, i.e. 20% of the world supply is mined by hand. i.e, digging earth with bare hands, breaking the stone and washing the minerals without any protective equipment or industrial tools. Out of 250,000 or more artisanal miners, more than 50,000 are estimated to be children as young as six years old. Yes. SIX years old.
Photograph source : Meinrad Schade
Shoes, a hard hat and gloves : By having only these basic things, dozens of accidents can be avoided and lives saved daily.
All day, the “artisanal” miners, an insensitive name for the impoverished workers - adults and children alike, inhale mineral dust and work in streams contaminated with industrial runoff. The accidents, deaths and ailments related to breathing problems and birth defects are rarely reported.
Photograph source : Meinrad Schade
These creuseur (diggers) toil from dawn to dusk with one hope - To fill a sack with the cobalt-containing heterogenite stone and get paid. They carry these heavy sacks each evening to the buyers who test each load with a radar-gun-like device called a Metorex, which detects mineral content.
Pay is based on the buyer decides. No minerals, no money. On a great day, a digger (creuseur) gets paid $2.5 and children get paid .5$. On most days, it is a fraction of this amount.
On the other hand, the key actors in this drama - the likes of Apple, Samsung and Tesla make billions of dollars selling smartphones and electric cars
So, even after a day of back breaking toil in hazardous inhumane conditions, a child or adult digger is at the mercy of the buyers to get paid, so that they can buy food.
So, why does this modern day slavery survive?
The answer is simple - Insatiable and ever increasing demand for cobalt. In the three ubiquitous things in our lives, the amount of cobalt needed is:
- Smartphone - 5 to 10 gms
- Laptop - 1 ounce
- Electric car - 10 to 20 pounds
The demand for Cobalt is exploding. From 35,000 tons in 2015 to 75,000 tons by 2025. More phones. More Cars. More tablets. More everything.
Numerous attempts to alleviate the living and working conditions in the artisanal miners in Congo have failed. The reasons include byzantine supply chains, unregulated buying processes and the pressure on price.
One of the many investigative videos on the artisanal mining is below
To exacerbate all this is the tragic history of Congo. The Belgium occupation from 1885 to 1960 - the plunder of its natural resources, mainly rubber and massacre of the civilians is well documented. The country has barely built it's governance structure when it got hit with this natural disaster - The finding of huge mineral deposits of the diamonds, cobalt, and copper. The curse continues - From rubber to cobalt. Google belgium occupation of congo to read more.
What can be done about it?
1. Is there an alternative for cobalt?
No. For the foreseeable future, it appears that we are stuck with this nickel-manganese-cobalt technology that will be used in the batteries to power cars to phones.
2. Is there any legislation to help?
A 2010 U.S. law requires american companies to attempt to verify that any tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold they use is obtained from mines free of militia control in the Congo region. It would help to add cobalt to that list. But this will require a significant campaign.
A lawsuit has been filed recently against the companies involved including Apple, Samsung, Tesla and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt to improve the working conditions of labor in Congo.
3. Responsible sourcing
The supply chain is complex and opaque. Most of the cobalt mined ends up in China for processing, although it is impossible to trace the origin. Chemaf and Trafigura are two companies in Congo, which are trying to do differently. Read more at https://www.trafigura.com/responsibility/responsible-sourcing/
4. What else?
Please pause. Please think. Do you need a NEW phone every year? Ask questions. How are the materials sourced? How is the labor paid? Can the companies track where the raw materials come from? It can be a phone or a tablet or a car. Only when consumers demand transparency from these companies, things might begin to change.
Remember - It is your choice that is impacting lives of millions of people in some part of the world that you are not even aware of...
Note : I am grateful to Meinrad Schade for his research and photographs of mining in Congo.
Sources:
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/contrarian/belgiums-heart-darkness