Cobalt mining is one of the most highly demanded
minerals to date being required for new battery technologies (rechargeable
Lithium Ion batteries) in almost all smart devices and electric car batteries. It is estimated that every smart phone
contains around 5-10 grams of cobalt, a laptop 1 ounce (28.35 grams), and an
electric car battery can contain 10-20 pounds (up to 9072 grams) of cobalt.
The
country most impacted by the pursuit of this mineral is Congo, where 60% of the
cobalt on the market comes from. Congo is no stranger to exploitation of its
resources, where ivory, gold, silver, rubber and many other natural resources
have attracted foreign companies in the past.
In 2010, the United States required US companies to attempt to verify
that a list of desired minerals that is obtained from Congo mines to be free
from militia control to avoid human rights issues. However, cobalt isn’t on
that list, and labor conditions at these mines are highly unregulated and child
labor is widely used. Although there is no association with militia groups in
these mines, conditions and wages of the workers at these mines are deficient.
Many health problems have risen in the workers from their exposure to cobalt
without proper equipment.
The list of symptoms includes: birth defects,
contaminated drinking water, lung diseases, eye diseases, cancer, skin
disorders and many others. All of this for $2-$3 a day, for what they can
muster to sell to the big Asian companies who dominate lithium ion battery
production. This is our modern-day blood diamond crisis, and it is only going
to get worse if credible sourcing of cobalt in supply chains isn’t enforced by
the world’s major companies.
It is a shame that suppliers keep getting away with this behavior. There needs to be more regulation in place to stop unfair resource exploitation.
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