Narrator/David Holland: Cobalt mining is one of the biggest human rights violations
happening in the modern world. According to the Council on foreign relations the DRC
produces 70% of the world’s cobalt. Most of this cobalt is harvested whilst in unsafe
work conditions, exploiting children and pregnant women for their labor, drastically
undercompensating mine workers, and posing significant health risk to mine workers
and their surrounding communities.
DRC is another way of saying The Democratic Republic of The Congo. The Democratic
Republic of the Congo or the DRC is a country in central Africa and the main focus of
this podcast
Joining me will be Maurice the Executive Director and Co-founder of Friends Of The
Congo, a non-profit Congolese advocacy organization located in Washington DC.
(Transition Music)
Narrator/David Holland: Cobalt powers a lot of the devices that we use everyday such
as our smartphones, our tablets, and our computers. Within the past 5 years the world
has really seen a push to move away from fossil fuels and reduce our carbon footprint.
Cobalt has been seen as a means to achieve that goal.
Maurice: Cobalt is a byproduct of copper and Nickel mining and it is a mineral that is
key for rechargeable batteries, in your cellphones, in your Ipads, in your automobile. So,
Many governments around the world are moving their economies from combustion
engine, right, from oil based economies, to what they call clean energy or green energy.
That can not happen, that transition, without a mineral like Cobalt.
Narrator/David Holland: According to the Center for Collective Learning which is a
multidisciplinary research group with locations at Corvinus University and the University
of Toulouse, Cobalt mining exports have generated $5.99 billion for the DRC. And yet,
citizens and mine workers of the DRC only receive a fraction of that wealth, being paid
$2-$3 a day for their labor.
Maurice: What drives people to mining is poverty, you know, living in extreme poverty in
in the the Congo. The world bank says 60 million Congolese live on less than $2.15 a
day. Mining is an option, a way out for a number, for a lot, a lot of people.
Narrator/David Holland: As a result, parents are sending their children as young as 3
years old to work in the mines.
Maurice: Parents in some instances have no choice but to take their children into the
mines with them, right, cus they don’t have resources to send them to school, and they
have to go into mines to seek out a living so they take the children there with them. And
then the children they may help them carrying bags or sifting through minerals and
they’re exposed to the radioactive materials, so that has an impact on them in terms of
their, of their health.
Narrator/David Holland: Working in the mines is not easy. In the Congo there are two
types of mines, industrial and artisanal. Industrial mines are usually excavated by
professional companies with safety regulations and tools to ensure safety for workers.
Artisanal mines on the other hand are a different story, These mines are often dug
without proper support structures in place making them at risk of collapse whilst workers
are still inside of them. Workers also excavate these mines without proper safety gear
exposing them to direct contact with radioactive minerals.
Maurice: Artisanal or small scale mining, that’s done with rudimentary tools by your
hands and people dig you know dozens of feet into the ground to basically dig out the
mineral. And all of these minerals, just about all of them are radioactive, and then it’s a
dangerous environment especially when you go down in the tunnels.
Narrator/David Holland: It’s no doubt that the safety of artisanal mines is questionable.
What's concerning is how prevalent they are even within some industrial mine
operations, with 500,000 to 2 million Congolese working in these mines across the
country according to the World Bank.
Narrator/David Holland: Artisanal mines don’t just affect the workers who excavate
them, they also have profound negative effects on surrounding communities
Maurice: When you’re mining you’re kicking up the Earth and dust gets in the air,
particles, that are then blown and land on plants. And that destroys the plant life, again
we’re talking about radioactive material, they land in the water system, in some areas,
you have entire lakes that are just dead, there’s no fish in there, the water’s not
drinkable. And then you have a situation with industrial mining where you have leakage
or drainage that goes into the waterway and pollutes the water system
Narrator/David Holland: It should then come as no surprise that mining practices have
been linked to increased cases of asthma, cardiovascular issues, cancers, and lung
diseases within surrounding communities. But not only are local communities health put
at risk by mining companies but so is their very place of residency
Maurice: They're given concessions or land by the government. And then when they're
given the land, the government goes in and clears people off the land, and then the
companies start digging for those resources. In clearing the people off the land they
promise them, you know, health care, compensation, lodging, education. But that's
rarely delivered. And if delivered not to the level that would make the people whole who
have lost just lost their land
(Transition Music)
Narrator/David Holland: As with every commodity Cobalt is only supplied if there is a
demand for it, Who is demanding it?
Maurice: Mainly China, Mainly China, China’s a Dominant player, it’s refined and
processed there and then it’ll come back to the U.S and elsewhere as a finished
product.
Narrator/David Holland: According to the Congressional Executive Commission on
China, China refines 80% of cobalt from the DRC. The cobalt is then shipped off to
other nations such as the U.S, Japan, and various European countries to name a few. It
makes you wonder, are these countries and their companies aware of how their cobalt
is sourced?
Maurice: The companies know, there was a lawsuit against major tech companies in DC
and the lawsuit was made by international rights advocates led by attorney Terry
Collingsworth, and he was suing these tech companies, for sourcing minerals from the
Congo that had child labor in the sourcing of the minerals. And the courts ruled in favor
of the tech companies against the children of the congo that the suit was brought on
behalf of, in the ruling the court if you read the judges ruling they state explicitly where
these companies are getting their minerals from.
Narrator/David Holland: According to the Responsible Mining Foundation the
companies included in this lawsuit were Alphabet, Dell, Apple, Tesla, and Microsoft. The
courts ruled in favor of the major tech companies as they felt there was not enough
proof that they were in a venture with cobalt vendors who were known to use child labor
such as Glencore and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt. However, the point of the lawsuit was
never to win, it was to make these companies aware of how their cobalt is sourced, and
that point was achieved.
(Transition Music)
Narrator/David Holland: Because mining is such a lucrative industry, the locals of the
Congo encounter systemic barriers and brutality when they speak out and advocate for
themselves
Maurice: They face the brunt of the security forces. The presidential guard comes in.
The police comes in, and they fire live bullets at them, they they kill them. They disperse
them. Yeah. So It's a matter of life and death.
Narrator/David Holland: Despite the oppression the Congolese have faced they still
make an effort to advocate for themselves
Maurice: A lot of those groups that come up there are self-defense groups. They have
been kicked off their land and they like, you know, we're going to organize to try and get
our land back. You know, if we're kicked off our land and this company comes in, we're
going to kidnap the workers, right? And we're going to disrupt as much as we can.
We're going to make it impossible for them to, to carry out their mining project until we
as a community are made whole. So, conflicts that come about as a result of that as
well. So it's quite common for a company to come in, kick off, kick the people off their
land, and then the people protest. They call the security forces, the presidential guard,
the police, the military, and they come to shut down the the protests
(Transition Music)
Narrator/David Holland: By exploring the framework of cobalt mining in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, we are able to see just how much the technology we use in our daily
lives comes from literal blood, sweat, and tears. Addressing the humanitarian crisis that
is cobalt mining in the DRC requires a concerted effort from governments, corporations,
and consumers alike. The entire cobalt mining system in the DRC will have to be
completely uprooted so that it benefits the DRC first. Only then can the exploitation of
Congolese locals and resources be ceased and the plight of the Congolese people be
rectified.
Narrator/David Holland: This podcast was produced by David Holland for the Spring
2024 Global Health Class at Guilford College
Citations in APA
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ainst-tesla-other-tech-companies/
Cobalt imports country distribution worldwide | Statista. (2023). Statista; Statista.
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Delve | Democratic Republic of Congo. (2023). Delve.
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How “modern-day slavery” in the Congo powers the rechargeable battery
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rc-mining-siddharth-kara
Beaule, V. (2023, February 8). Artisanal cobalt mining swallowing city in
Democratic Republic of the Congo, satellite imagery shows. ABC News; ABC News.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/cobalt-mining-transforms-city-democratic-republic-
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