Some of you might know that our phones contain an element called cobalt, others may not, either way, it is important to understand the fact that these battery stabilisers are mined in the dark jungles of the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), with the help of child labours, who are dying every day as a result of extreme conditions such as poor health, malnutrition, exposure to deadly minerals and cramped conditions.
In 2021, the number of mobile devices operating worldwide stood at almost 15 billion, up from just over 14 billion in the previous year. The number of mobile devices is expected to reach 18.22 billion by 2025, an increase of 4.2 billion recorded last year, devices compared to 2020 levels.
This, multiplied by the amount of cobalt needed for a regular 1 Samsung Galaxy S21 would equal to 12 million KG of cobalt, check the maths:
8mg x 150,000,000,00 phones = 1.2×10 to the power of 11 = 12 million
If you want to deny the truth, then read no further…
In this report: https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=107498 “The Dark Side of Samsung’s Value Chain: The Human Costs of Cobalt Mining “BLOOD, SWEAT AND COBALT”
Samsung has been implicitly linked to human rights abuses and wider social downgrading propagated within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Reports by different studies have shown artisanal cobalt mines (ASM) to exploit child labour and subject workers to perilous conditions. The IT multinational is dependent upon Congolese cobalt as a key element in lithiumion batteries used to produce their array of electronics. However, irresponsible cobalt sourcing practices undertaken by Tier 1 suppliers, Glencore and Huayou, have resulted in ASM operations being incorporated into Samsung’s global value chain, as Tier 2 suppliers. Analysis of the relationships underpinning Samsung’s cobalt value chain theoretical framework, highlights the presence of a relational governance structure, with captive elements among upstream Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers. Samsung is thereby reliant upon both Glencore and Huayou to transmit and enforce private codes of conduct down the value chain to expel human rights abuses. In conjunction, the DRC’s weak and unstable institutional environment has facilitated corruption and the improper enforcement of laws across the ASM industry. It is thereby imperative that Samsung takes ownership of the issues present within its value chain, as both Tier 1 suppliers and the Congolese government have failed to ensure responsible cobalt sourcing practices to date. This report recommends that Samsung adopt a holistic action plan, not only utilising their own resources and capabilities, but also those of critical stakeholders including Tier 1 suppliers, NGOs and the DRC and South Korean governments. Most prominently, this report suggests that supply chain transparency can be improved using certificates of origin and blockchain technology. Furthermore, it is recommended that poverty alleviation is targeted as a key measure through “Cobalt for Development”, an action plan designed to instigate both social and economic upgrading within ASM operations and the wider community. By employing a multi-scalar approach and addressing the issues inherent across multiple governance levels, Samsung can ensure a responsible source of cobalt be sustained.
Furthermore, it was estimated in the article below that the workers in poor provinces are barely scraping by, earning R40 a day (Congolese Franc), which equals 0.00048 of a US dollar.
https://www.news24.com/news24/africa/news/the-mines-where-drc-workers-earn-less-than-r40-a-day-study-finds-mass-exploitation-at-cobalt-mines-20220223
These minerals are also required for electric cars and many other digital devices that we use. Even if TESLA is reducing amounts of cobalt in its electric cars, there’s still many other international electric car companies that heavily rely on slave labour, mostly consisting of young kids, ages from: 6 years old to any age above. Companies like POLESTAR are also responsible for unethical cobalt purchases in the DRC. More facts that are still not yet known to almost all the world, is that the Chinese have majority control over the mining provinces of the DRC, as they have sponsored and helped development in the African country, this has proven to be solidifying ties between both countries.
The relationship between China and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) relations provides a unique case to test China’s win-win policy with African countries. A recurring question is how can a win-win partnership be realized between very unequal partners? China is a global power ideologically, economically, militarily, and financially. The DRC is known for its weak state characterized by years of instability and mismanagement.
https://asq.africa.ufl.edu/kabemba_dec2016/
The DRC’s History:
The DRC like most of the other nations of Africa was ruled by a colonial power in 1908 by Belgium until 1960 when the country gained independence.
The ruler of Belgium, was King Leopold, who at the time was known to be the founder of the rubber industry in the Congo. During his reign, he had the lives of 10 million Congolese killed during a great genocide of 1885-1908, which also saw millions more left without feet or hands. This atrocity was worse than the Armenian Genocide of 1915 committed by the Turkish government. To this day, not many people know of the extent of Leopold’s reign of terror in the Congo. The Armenian Genocide only claimed 1.2 to 1.5 million deaths.
The Belgian government of the time has never been held accountable.
In 1960, the Congolese fought for independence of Belgium, the European country did so, but soon the country fell into chaos, after President Eisenhower of the USA committed the CIA to eradicate the peaceful government at the time, hoping for a greater say in the mineral wealth of the DRC, in weeks the country was being chipped away by internal diplomacy (this was called ‘The Congo Crisis’)most regions wanted to secede. Worrying that a soviet intervention would come, the US got involved with full force. Later there would be a pro-US regime installed, and thus ended the violence.
Conclusion:
The country is in dire straits with the workforce employed by Chinese mining companies, the healthcare for workers is basically zero, and the government has been prove fragile, as the country is torn by civil war and civil unrest, only a handful of regions are safe for outsiders and travellers from beyond. The government and rebel forces have been proven to be corrupt, as some people who enter the country bribe officials and soldiers.
The country now is in distress, the people of the mines are dying, no one’s coming to help, unless we implement our own change, the cobalt helps batteries, the batteries help what we call “Defeating Climate Change” by being placed in everything electrical, from TESLA cars to mobile phones, look around you, the phones, the cobalt, the blood of Africa, is stained on our Western society.
Thank you for reading the article as it proves to be vital that everyone knows what impact they have on poorer undeveloped nations, as the DRC.
For even more information, check this book out, and the following sites:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/31/the-dark-side-of-congos-cobalt-rush
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_industry_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo
Extra facts:
- Conflict minerals do not refer to cobalt, but rather diamonds, gold and precious minerals.
- Most mines in the Congo have no assistance in technology, so workers mine in large pits or cramped holes that often collapse in horrendous ways, often killing all inside.
- Even people you look up to have been involved with cobalt mining, such as Elon Musk, and Leonardio Dicaprio who holds shares worth: $1.6 B in POLESTAR, an electric car company that buys cobalt off slave labouring mines.