Executive Summary

• Cobalt, mined primarily in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is critical for developing green technologies.
• Small and large-scale cobalt mining involves child labor, dangerous working conditions, environmental degradation, and human rights abuses.
• Current attempts to regulate DRC cobalt mining are inadequate.
• The UN should regulate cobalt mining under frameworks similar to mercury or diamond control measures.

Background

As the world transitions towards renewable energy sources, cobalt will be critical in developing effective zero-carbon infrastructure. It is required for nearly all rechargeable lithium-ion batteries powering smartphones, electric vehicles (EVs), and renewable-dominant power grids. As such, demand for cobalt has tripled since 2010 and may increase up to 30-fold by 2040 (IEA, 2021). As of 2021, the DRC produces ~70% of global cobalt supply and contains ~50% of global reserves. Most cobalt mining in the DRC (~80%) occurs at large-scale industrial mines, operated or financed by foreign corporations. The remaining 20% of Congolese cobalt is supplied via artisanal small-scale mining (ASM), pursued informally by ~200,000 miners in small communities using basic tools.

Problems in Large-Scale Mining

Large-scale industrial cobalt mining (LSM) is tainted by human rights abuse, with nearly half of mining corporations in southern Africa facing allegations of political bribery, forced relocation, abuse by private security, and attacks on civil organizations (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 2021). Despite knowledge of these abuses, major consumer electronics and EV producers do little to prevent human rights abuses in their cobalt supply chains (Amnesty International, 2017). While NGOs document these abuses extensively, there is little formal study of their actual family and community-level effects (Bamana et al., 2021).
Though the environmental effects of Congolese LSM are also chronically understudied, they can be extrapolated from other mining sites (Nogrady, 2020). Analysis of Australian LSM shows excessive greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient pollution (eutrophication) caused by blasting operations and mining equipment similar to those in the DRC (Farjana et al., 2019).
Fifteen of the DRC’s nineteen cobalt mines are Chinese-owned or financed, raising concerns that China is positioned to control global cobalt production (Searcey et al., 2021). The Biden administration is explicitly concerned with Chinese disruption of American EV production. This near-monopoly has also caused a decline in safety standards and increased corruption, as the Congolese government struggles to regulate the Chinese infrastructure firms also responsible for their roads, railways, schools, and hospitals (Pattisson, 2021).

Dangers in Small-scale Mining

Though its informality grants miners greater autonomy, ASM miners are subject to frequent human rights abuses from a lack of safety and worker protection measures. Most ASM miners work with no gloves, face masks, or protective clothing. Child labor is endemic, with children as young as 7 scavenging or washing industrial waste (Amnesty International, 2016). With these lax protection standards, physical and sexual abuse are rampant in communities reliant on ASM for income (Buxton, 2021).
Though it is often the only viable income for many miners, ASM is a health and environmental hazard for local communities. A 2018 study showed bioaccumulation of cobalt, manganese, and uranium in children living near ASMs caused genetic damage (Banza Lubaba Nkulu et al., 2018). These harmful exposures did not just affect children working in the mines, but also entire neighborhoods in the vicinity. Because of the lack of personal protective equipment, dermatitis, asthma, and severe lung disease are pervasive among ASM miners, including the children that work alongside them (Amnesty International, 2016).

Inadequate Solutions

Though many industry partnerships have attempted to combat these conditions, industry-NGO partnerships only regulate cobalt supplies insofar as it improves consumer relations. Despite commitments by major tech companies, reports from human rights groups indicate that these initiatives have done little (Amnesty International, 2017; Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, 2021). Efforts to formalize infrastructure, health, safety, and labor standards in ASM production are attractive to investors and humanitarian organizations, but have been similarly ineffective (Baumann-Pauly, 2020a). ASM formalization efforts lack any substantial definition of “responsible ASM” and can thus be implemented to any arbitrary standard (Baumann-Pauly, 2020b). A 2021 case study of three ASM formalization projects showed abuse of a “wageless corporate workforce” rather than any meaningful improvements (Calvão et al., 2021).

Recommendations

The UN should adopt a regulatory framework to effectively mitigate the medical, social, and environmental impacts of cobalt mining. Effective ASM regulation and public funds for pollution-reduction projects were already devised under the UN’s Minamata Convention on Mercury, and have been successfully implemented to limit mercury pollution. Compared to existing industry-NGO partnerships, the Convention’s international buy-in and enforcement mechanisms ensure effective regulation (Kessler, 2013). The upcoming COP4 of the Minamata Convention in Bali is a great opportunity to apply this framework to cobalt mining. The Kimberley Process (KP) used to certify diamond production also bears consideration. Its inclusion of states, mining companies, industries, and NGOs is very applicable to cobalt supply, though its exclusion of abusive state practices should be avoided (Human Rights Watch, 2010). UN regulation would provide standardization and enforcement to a disparate, abusive industry.

References

Amnesty International. (2016). “This Is What We Die For”: Human Rights Abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Power the Global Trade in Cobalt (AFR 62/3183/2016). Amnesty International. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr62/3183/2016/en/

Amnesty International. (2017). Time to Recharge: Corporate Action and Inaction to Tackle Abuses in the Cobalt Supply Chain (AFR 62/7395/2017). Amnesty International. https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Time-to-recharge-online-1411.pdf

Bamana, G., Miller, J. D., Young, S. L., & Dunn, J. B. (2021). Addressing the social life cycle inventory analysis data gap: Insights from a case study of cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. One Earth, 4(12), 1704–1714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.11.007

Banza Lubaba Nkulu, C., Casas, L., Haufroid, V., De Putter, T., Saenen, N. D., Kayembe-Kitenge, T., Musa Obadia, P., Kyanika Wa Mukoma, D., Lunda Ilunga, J.-M., Nawrot, T. S., Luboya Numbi, O., Smolders, E., & Nemery, B. (2018). Sustainability of artisanal mining of cobalt in DR Congo. Nature Sustainability, 1(9), 495–504. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0139-4

Baumann-Pauly, D. (2020a). Making Mining Safe and Fair: Artisanal cobalt extraction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo [White Paper]. World Economic Forum. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Making_Mining_Safe_2020.pdf

Baumann-Pauly, D. (2020b, October 29). Why Cobalt Mining in the DRC Needs Urgent Attention. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/blog/why-cobalt-mining-drc-needs-urgent-attention

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. (2021). Southern Africa Deep Dive (Transition Minerals Tracker). https://media.business-humanrights.org/media/documents/2021_TMT_Southern_Africa.pdf

Buxton, A. (2021, September 29). Mining Cobalt Better. International Institute for Environment and Development. https://www.iied.org/mining-cobalt-better

Calvão, F., Mcdonald, C. E. A., & Bolay, M. (2021). Cobalt mining and the corporate outsourcing of responsibility in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Extractive Industries and Society, 8(4), 100884. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2021.02.004

Farjana, S. H., Huda, N., & Mahmud, M. A. P. (2019). Life cycle assessment of cobalt extraction process. Journal of Sustainable Mining, 18(3), 150–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsm.2019.03.002

Human Rights Watch. (2010). Deliberate Chaos: Ongoing Human Rights Abuses in the Marange Diamond Fields of Zimbabwe. https://www.hrw.org/report/2010/06/21/deliberate-chaos/ongoing-human-rights-abuses-marange-diamond-fields-zimbabwe

Human Rights Watch Statement on the Kimberley Process. (2016, June 6). Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/06/06/human-rights-watch-statement-kimberley-process

IEA. (2021). The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions [World Energy Outlook Special Report]. IEA. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions

Kessler, R. (2013). The Minamata Convention on Mercury: A First Step toward Protecting Future Generations. Environmental Health Perspectives, 121(10), A304-a309. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.121-A304

Nogrady, B. (2020, June 17). Cobalt is Critical to the Renewable Energy Transition. How Can We Minimize its Social And Environmental Cost? New Security Beat. https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2020/06/cobalt-critical-renewable-energy-transition-minimize-social-environmental-cost/

Pattisson, P. (2021, November 8). ‘Like slave and master’: DRC miners toil for 30p an hour to fuel electric cars. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/nov/08/cobalt-drc-miners-toil-for-30p-an-hour-to-fuel-electric-carsSearcey, D., Forsythe, M., Lipton, E., & Gilbertson, A. (2021, November 20). A Power Struggle Over Cobalt Rattles the Clean Energy Revolution. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/world/china-congo-cobalt.html