If you use a tablet, laptop, or cell phone for work or school, the rechargeable battery inside it most likely comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Seventy percent of the earth’s cobalt supply comes from the DRC, which is used to make lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars, e-cigarettes, and other electronic devices. Disturbingly, the mining industry for these valuable minerals. Adults and children mine for penny wages in toxic and often dangerous environments. Inexpensive Congolese labour consequently fuels the wealth of household-name multinational corporations, including Apple, Google, and Tesla.
Cobalt is widely considered essential for the green energy transition because of its various contributions to creating a low-carbon economy. It is a crucial component in batteries for electric vehicles, solar panels, and other sources of renewable energy. Advocates for cobalt hope that it will advance the fight against climate change by allowing for prolonged and more efficient energy storage. Cobalt is also incredibly profitable, with the global supply chain of mining companies, intermediary traders, battery producers, and multinational corporations advancing the global market value of cobalt to an estimated 10.8 billion US dollars in 2023.
The horrendous working conditions from mining are specifically associated with small-scale artisanal mining (ASM). Approximately 200,000 Congolese people work in this sector, while it economically sustains many more from family connections or working in small businesses surrounding informal mines. Miners in ASM have no advanced machinery or transport technology and are not formally contracted with a specific company. The work is incredibly unsafe and miserable. In addition to environmental hazards such as pollution inhalation, mine shaft collapses are frequent due to a lack of formal infrastructure. Horizontal tunnels that lack building support lead to violent injuries and deaths, which are rarely reported. A lack of regulation also means that child labour is pervasive, with some estimates of over 40,000 children mining for cobalt.
Although some forms of ASM are illegal, they still make up a substantial part of the global supply chain. An estimated 10 to 30 percent of cobalt in the DRC comes from artisanal mining. There is no strict dividing line or regulation on sourcing because artisanal miners trade and sell their extracted minerals into the same formal supply chain as large-scale industrial mining. While major corporations will often formally exclude ASM-sourced minerals from their sourcing contracts, this promise is not credible, because cobalt sourced from various forms of production is blindly combined during processing. As long as there is a sufficient economic incentive to engage in ASM because it is the only viable income-generating activity, it will inevitably continue to enter the general supply chain through middle-man trading. Criminalization and clauses in contracts will not solve this deadly issue. This lack of regulation and transparency implicitly condones ASM despite public denouncements against it.
While mining is culturally and historically associated with masculinity in the DRC, economic desperation has led many women to engage in artisanal mining. Between 20 and 50% of mine workers in the DRC are women. Many factors drive women to join the sector, including forced evictions by mining companies and a lack of viable income-generating alternatives. Due to cultural taboos and variations in physical strength, women and men perform different jobs when mining. Women are tasked with the crushing, sorting and washing of raw minerals in mining, while men and young boys dig through poorly constructed tunnels in desperate attempts to find more reserves. All of these jobs are physically dangerous. Cobalt is toxic to touch and breathe and can be radioactive due to trace amounts of uranium. Mineral purifying is often done by pregnant women or women alongside their children with no protective equipment. Women’s reproductive health is also harmed by work in the mines, with many suffering from menstrual disruption, infections, miscarriages, stillbirths and birth defects.
In addition to physical health consequences, due to unsafe working environments, women in mining suffer from discrimination and exploitation, leading to emotional and psychological distress. Violence against women in the mines and surrounding areas is endemic. In one study, over 70% of women interviewed reported that they were subjected to sexual violence. Sexual harassment frequently comes from the police and security forces who work at the mines to oversee transactions between miners and middlemen cobalt purchasers. Coerced prostitution of underage girls, underage pregnancy, and high rates of HIV are also common in mining communities.
Given that cobalt is a significant resource in the global transition to green energy and that demand for the mineral is expected to grow by 60% in 2025, it is essential to address these horrific extractivist production methods. A potential harm-reducing solution is to formalize ASM cobalt production rather than clinging to the myth that artisanally mined cobalt can be contractually excluded from the global supply chain. Formalization entails shallow open pits where miners are required to formally register to work and are given personal protective equipment such as gloves, helmets, and rubber boots. It also means credible on-site security to ensure children, pregnant people, and those under the influence cannot enter the mine site.
Additionally, implementing education programs to challenge taboos against women mining and creating female-led associations to provide workshops on preventing sexual violence can support female empowerment in mining communities. Ensuring the continued availability of shallow open mining pits rather than deep and unsafe horizontal tunnels would not only create a safer work environment but also diminish the gendered division of labour in the mines. Crucially, female empowerment through education, female-led initiatives, and reforms in mining practices during the process of formalization can substantially diminish the prevalence of child labour in mining. When women in mining perform similar jobs to men, it fosters dual-income households, enabling parents to afford to send their children to school.
A pilot program at a site named Mutoshi from 2018 to 2020 provided promising results on the role of formalization in improving incomes, supporting female empowerment, increasing school attendance, reducing child labour and injuries, and eliminating fatalities. Female empowerment was an integral aspect of the program’s success. Formal training and workshops led by a civil society mining cooperative played a significant role in challenging historical biases about women. Following the deeper integration of women into the mining sector, households were able to double their income and use it to send their children to school. Since the end of the program in 2020, because of COVID-19, conditions in the mine have significantly deteriorated, with fatalities from tunnel collapse increasing from zero to seven.
Formalization of ASM mining, however, is only one step towards a just and sustainable future. Focus-group interviews with local women in the province of Haut Katanga illustrate the need for health care support and environmental restoration. Beyond basic safety mechanisms to prevent sexual violence and injury in mining, they advocated for access to clean water, health clinics, fertilizers and seed centers to allow for agricultural income generation. Notably, all the women interviewed expressed a desire to leave the mining industry if a viable alternative was available.
While multinational corporations are generating billions of dollars in profit from the resources and labour of the DRC, they must also actively invest in the region to support the Congolese people and provide economic opportunity. Needless corporate greed and a refusal to take responsibility means that men, women, and children in the DRC will continue to suffer until active regulatory measures and effective development infrastructure are supported. As consumers who rely on cobalt from the DRC to fuel our day-to-day lives, we have a responsibility to hold companies accountable for the integrity of their supply chains.
Edited by Amina Kudrati-Plummer
Mia Alexander is in her second year at McGill University, currently pursuing a B.A. Joint Honours in International Development Studies and Political Science. She is particularly interested in gender equality and climate justice.