This year's Cobalt Institute conference has seen calls to action from several Central African nations seeking to control the flow of conflict minerals and make the supply more sustainable.
Artisanal mining in Sierra Leone. Credit: Belen B Massieu / Shutterstock
Artisanal mining (pictured here at a diamond mine in Sierra Leone) and its conditions have become a major ethical hurdle for the sector and the goods produced from them. Credit: Belen B Massieu / Shutterstock
Regulating "artisanal mining" - contract workers who do not formally work for mining companies - and establishing formal supply chains with the developed nations that make the most use of the metals can reportedly help eliminate ethical hurdles associated with metals such as cobalt.
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Cobalt is one of the metals essential for the energy transition. It is used in the creation of electric vehicle batteries, energy storage and electronics products such as mobile phones. However, it faces a major ethical hurdle that has seen a degree of hesitance from the West.
The countries that are sources of cobalt often have fewer concrete labour laws which can allow mining firms to exploit human rights loopholes not seen in the developed world. The main issue faced today is the abundance of child labour used in mining the metal. However, artisanal miners also report unsafe working conditions.
The work is often compared to slavery due to the poor conditions and low pay.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is home to around 50% of the world's cobalt reserves, with much of it being mined along the Zambian border.
As such, Julien Paluku Kahongy, the DRC's Minister for Industry suggested several methods to the conference that could make the mineral more sustainable.
Kahongy, whose main goal at the conference was to discuss setting up a value chain in the DRC, also stated that one way to tackle the growing concerns over child labour, ensure the safety and workers and make the metal more sustainable would be to "formalise," or regulate, artisanal mining.
Read more: Trafigura to set up "controlled mining zones" in DRC, in cobalt deal
As artisanal miners are not formerly employed by mining firms, they often lack the same rights as those contracted, which can lead to exploitation. The miners work independently, mining using their own resources - often by hand - and either work seasonally or permanently.
A 2018 report from the IISD hints that as much as 90% of the world's mining force is artisanal, with a workforce of around 40 million men, women and children. It is usually done because these nations often have few alternatives for sources of employment.
In some cases, the digging is also done illegally, which can prove a headache for regulation.
ASM, an archive of information gathered on artisanal mining, suggests that the DRC (2 million) has by far the highest number of artisanal miners in Africa, followed closely by Tanzania (1.5 million), Sudan (1.4 million), Ethiopia (1.26 million) and Ghana (1.2 million). It has become a major issue in nearly every nation on the continent and governments and businesses are constantly drafting plans to try and deal with it.
Globally, India leads the pack with 15 million, with China (9 million), and Indonesia (3.5 million).
The news comes nearly a week following the Mining Indaba 2022 conference in Cape Town, in which another Congolese minister, Antoinette N'Samba Kalambayi, sought to tackle the "artisanal mining monopoly" in a bid to make the metal more ethical.
Reuters reports it is in the country's best interest to regulate this business, mainly because of unclaimed taxes and the optics of metals mined by slaves hitting the markets.
"Formalisation is a priority for [her] because the Republic is losing out," she said at the conference.
There have been attempts in the past to set up controlled worker zones in a bid to improve worker conditions.
Swiss commodity trading firm Trafigura looked to work with Congolese state-owned Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC) in late 2020 to "fund the creation of strictly controlled artisanal mining zones, the installation of ore purchasing stations and costs related to the transparent and traceable delivery of cobalt."
As a result, artisanal mining is technically only legal in certain areas, but in practice, it happens in most reserves. Trifagura has been open about how it wishes to work with the government to meet its goals of regulating the sector.
Read more: 5 tech giants sued over use of child labour in Congolese cobalt mines
Other companies, such as Intel, have also looked to set up a system of "conflict-free minerals" for metals such as lithium, which is also used in EV batteries.
While at the conference, Kahongy called on the cobalt industry outside of the DRC and its neighbour Zambia to invest in the country's resources in a bid to set up a value chain for the creation of electric vehicle batteries.
Plans have been laid out to build a production plant for the precursor ingredients for these batteries, which will then likely be shipped to battery developers overseas.
"Cobalt is at the very heart of electric batteries. 5,000 tonnes of cobalt metal are available in the country each year, which is why the DRC is important to these discussions," he said at the conference, calling on foreign investment.
"In recent years, we have been providing these resources to the world without profiting from them ourselves. The DRC is available and at your disposal, for collaboration to develop a supply chain for what the world needs."
Argus Media reports that the plans come to around $54 billion (€51.3 billion), which will require significant investment from international partners. Broken down, this will include $21 billion (€19.9 billion) on roads, $2.5 billion (€2.37 billion) for ports around the Congo river and $22 billion (€20.2 billion) on electrical infrastructure.
Foreign investment would also lead to more eyes on the nation, which could lead to miners operating in the DRC to capitulate, reducing the reliance on artisanal miners. If nothing else, it will likely spur the government into trying harder to regulate them.
Plans to set up a stronger battery supply chain were also met by neighbouring Zambia. Its new government has announced plans to re-open the Chambishi cobalt refinery - the only one of its kind in the entirety of sub-Saharan Africa.
The country is looking to work with the DRC and other African nations in creating a value chain that could significantly benefit the economies of each nation, and lead to development.
Both the DRC and Zambia rank among the world's poorest countries and these kinds of industrial developments could bring in a lot of money to improve the lives of its people.
The GDP per capita in the DRC is only around $556, while in Zambia it is only $1,050. For reference, the GDP of the UK is $40,284 and in the US it is $63,543.
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While measuring GDP per capita only takes an average - often overshadowing or undermining the income of the very poor and offset by the very wealthy - it is still a good metric for comparisons of economic development between nations.
For reference, the mean wage in Zambia is around ZMK 6000 (€335) per month.
Government regulation of wages in such dangerous work could lead to significant improvements in the quality of life of the people, while more ethical business practices mean companies are less likely to pay poor wages.
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