Cobalt Mining in the DRC - History, Atrocities, & Responses

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a country undergoing great change; in which the promises of a greater future are overshadowed by widespread atrocities committed in the hopes of prosperity. The nation, one of the poorest in the world - with a GDP per capita of $1 552 - has in recent years attracted significant international interest, considering that it holds a majority of the world’s reserves of cobalt, a crucial metal in the world’s transition to green energy.

However, the almost ridiculous untapped wealth the country possesses has acted as more of a curse than boon, inspiring exploitation and human rights abuses in the name of profits which never reach the Congolese people. GorStra reports on the story.

Cobalt has been used by humans for millennia (as early as 1300 BC) - it has for most of history been treasured for its distinctive blue colouring and its application in jewellery, ceramics, and glass. However, in more recent decades, the metal has found even wider scope in many products and processes; most crucially for this article, lithium-ion batteries. This category of batteries are commonly used in smartphones and electric cars, and with the incredible rise in global demand for the latter, the need for cobalt is also growing - it is estimated that production will have to scale by 500% in order to keep up with production of cobalt-rich goods.

The DRC, as mentioned, contains a majority of the earth’s (land) cobalt deposits, and accounted in 2022 for 68% of global cobalt output in the year. In total, it is estimated that the nation holds mineral deposits of a worth exceeding the staggering figure of $24 trillion: as such, it is clear that the DRC would be poised, if it acted strategically, to make great strides in alleviating its people’s poverty through the management, exportation, and refinement of its wealth/minerals.

Many have noted the staggering economic potential of the country’s natural resources. Swiss commodity and mining company Glencore (spurred on and assisted by Israeli tycoon Dan Gertler) and a number of Chinese firms constitute the largest presence in the DRC - up to 86% of all cobalt mining operations in the country. These enormous corporations often refrain from directly mining the metal themselves, however, preferring to subcontract their work to artisanal miners (these being small-scale, low-technology miners who create and maintain - often perilously - their own tunnels, extracting products in a personal capacity). According to the World Bank, artisanal mining contributes 10-20% of total cobalt supply from the DRC - it is not entirely clear whether this figure includes those miners subcontracted by larger multinational firms, but whatever the case, it is clear that the cobalt artisanal mining sector is an important one, and worth discussing.

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What is also decidedly clear is that many Congolese artisanal miners have suffered numerous human rights abuses as a result of this great ‘cobalt rush’. Far from benefiting those who live in abject poverty, the presence of such great wealth within the Congolese soil (the extraction of which is often the sole labour opportunity in proximate areas) has proven almost entirely to be a curse - abuses include abysmal work conditions and wages, the use of child labour in mining operations, and an increased risk of workers to adverse health conditions.

The exploitation of artisanal miners, both sub-contracted and entirely independent, is well-documented: The Guardian reported that workers, who endure long and physically demanding shifts, earn sometimes as little as (the equivalent of) $0.39 per hour. Roy Maconachie, a Professor of Natural Resources & Development at the University of Bath, adds to this by describing in more detail the inhumane conditions one earns these wages in: amongst other things, workers are made to utilise informally-constructed tunnels which sometimes reach depths of 100 metres - often collapsing and killing those within them. A widespread lack of personal protective equipment exacerbates the number of casualties/fatalities. 

Beyond the dangers of the tunnels themselves, threats lie in initial refinement of the product, and simple proximity to it. Those who clean the raw cobalt excavated by artisanal miners, and sift out impurities, are often exposed to various toxic trace chemicals; a scientific study found the highest ever recorded concentration of metals in pregnant women in the mining city of Lubumbashi. Exposure to hazardous metals significantly increases the likelihood of children being born with birth defects, as well as the occurrence of respiratory diseases. 

Child labour is also a pressing problem: as of 2020, of the estimated 255 000 artisanal miners in the DRC, around 40 000 were children. Children, just as regular adults, are drawn to cobalt mining as a means to escape poverty (or at least to abate its effects) - however, efforts are being made to reduce this practice.

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In summary, then: artisanal Congolese cobalt miners, and the communities which form around them, are subject to inhumane working and general economic conditions, perilously extracting a metal which should be bringing prosperity to the people of the DRC - livelihoods may be eked out through the practice, but at a significant cost. 

The dangers of this cobalt mining have been known for some time now - Amnesty International published a report on the matter as far back as 2016, and the international community took notice. What is less clear, however, is whether we have made any significant strides in solving the problem. Despite the urgent warnings international groups have made for nearly a decade, there is no indication that has led to a more equitable and just cobalt mining industry - while some multinational mining companies have begun engagement with artisanal miners (which would theoretically lead to greater regulation, and thus higher safety standards), the outcomes of this process are as of yet uncertain. Others which rely heavily on the metal have pledged to regulate and responsibly source cobalt; however, informal and formal supply chains often mix and merge, making it difficult to discern what exactly constitutes ethical sourcing. 

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It is difficult to establish direction, ‘lines of power’ (as Thomas Pynchon put it), here: to conclude on what the crisis of the DRC’s cobalt miners can be understood as in order to discuss suggestions for future practice is a difficult task. A number of factors combine in various ways here - from poverty, to trends in sustainability, to geopolitics; the DRC is an intersection of many processes. It is clear, at least, that workers require greater bargaining power in order to more effectively possess a share of the mineral prosperity they create; however, this would likely require effective policy changes from a state whose actions have had little effect, and which faces other pressing issues - most pertinently, the continuing and widespread conflict in the North Kivu province. Other solutions may require a wider disentangling of causes and effects than is possible here.

Of course, homogenising and distilling a complex environment such as this may itself, even if possible, do more harm than good. This is a multifaceted issue, and identifying a ‘through-line’, or simple classification of the problem, may not be possible; and attempting to generate solutions from heuristics could ignore crucial factors which may nullify or reverse efforts to ensure a more just and equitable future for cobalt miners in the DRC. 

Nevertheless, these miners, their families, and the communities around them, deserve equitable pay for their efforts, safe work environments, and to remain unburdened from the need to require children to labour. It is sincerely hoped that this may be achieved, and that all obtain the standard of living which each human being deserves.