Full Title: Beneath the Green: A Critical Look at the Environmental and Human Costs of Industrial Cobalt Mining in DRC
Author(s): RAID and AFREWATCH
Publisher(s): RAID and AFREWATCH
Publication Date: March 9, 2024
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Description (excerpt):
Cobalt is a critical mineral for the green energy transition. It is used in the rechargeable batteries in electric vehicles and is primarily found in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which holds around 70% of the world’s reserves. It is mined as a by-product of copper, another critical mineral. DRC is the primary producer of cobalt and the third largest producer of copper. 88% of DRC’s cobalt is produced by industrial mines operated by some of the world’s largest mining companies; the remaining 12% is from artisanal miners.
In one of the first in-depth studies on the environmental impacts of cobalt mining on Congolese communities who live near the mines, RAID and AFREWATCH visited 25 villages and towns, and collected detailed testimonies from 144 people living around five of the world’s largest cobalt and copper mines. They interviewed medical experts and scientists, scrutinised scientific studies and examined hundreds of pages of company documents.
Mining companies routinely promote the cobalt from DRC’s industrial mines as being “clean”, “sustainable”, and free from human rights and environmental harms. Yet our research reveals that water pollution and water depletion from mining operations are severely affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of fenceline residents, infringing upon their right to clean water and their right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The DRC’s cobalt and copper mining region appears to be turning into a “sacrifice zone”, which UN experts describe as areas where populations suffer devastating health consequences and human rights abuses from living in heavily contaminated areas.