This story exposes the shocking truth about the mining of cobalt, a metal crucial to making the batteries in electric cars, laptops and mobile phones.<\/p>\n
The world\u2019s richest deposits of cobalt are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of the poorest countries on earth. It produces around 70% of world output.<\/p>\n
This buried treasure has lured hundreds of thousands of Congolese to work in the country\u2019s mines, big and small.<\/p>\n
But mining is dangerous, corruption and violence is rife and though child labour has been banned, it\u2019s common.<\/p>\n
In recent years, the cobalt trade has been taken over by Chinese companies which operate or finance 15 of the 19 big industrial mines. Locals say that under their management, low safety standards have dropped even further.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately people even are dying for lack of safety,\u201d says an employee of one big company.<\/p>\n
Australian reporter Michael Davie travels to this mineral-rich country to investigate the industry \u2013 from the major Chinese-owned companies to the conditions of the small-scale workers on the fringes of the big mines.
\nIt\u2019s a dangerous mission and Davie is followed, harassed and arrested by mine and government security officials.<\/p>\n
The day he arrives there\u2019s been a mine cave-in, killing at least six miners.<\/p>\n
He sees miners tunnel 25 metres underground with no safety equipment.<\/p>\n
He meets primary school-age children handling cobalt, a toxic metal which can cause serious health effects.<\/p>\n
He meets a mother whose 13-year-old son has just been killed on the fringes of a mine whose embankment collapsed. Companies in the Congo are obliged to make sure they don’t harm the communities around them.<\/p>\n
He secures a video which shows a man being beaten by a Congolese soldier as mine managers watch on, laughing.<\/p>\n
And he interviews a whistleblower who accuses the Chinese mine he works for of covering up the deaths of co-workers. He also says the country isn\u2019t benefitting from the boom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no investment coming back in terms of environment, infrastructure\u2026We don’t have road facilities, we don’t have communication. There is nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s hope amidst the gloom. Davie meets the Good Shepherd Sisters, nuns who\u2019ve set up a school near the mines and educated thousands of children.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the children are given education, if schools are spread all over and every child goes to school, then we are redeeming this country,\u201d says one nun.<\/p>\n
This is a rare insight into a powerful industry which operates a dangerous business with seeming impunity. All of us use the end products.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The world is embracing renewable technologies but how much do we know about the metals that are powering this green revolution? This story exposes the shocking truth about the mining of cobalt, a metal crucial to making the batteries in electric cars, laptops and mobile phones. The world\u2019s richest deposits of cobalt are in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":1,"featured_media":217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"18"},"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":{"override_bookmark_button":"0","override_show_bookmark_button":"0"},"jnews_food_recipe":[],"enable_food_recipe":"0","food_recipe_title":"","food_recipe_description":"","food_recipe_serve":"","food_recipe_time":"","food_recipe_prep":"","food_recipe_level":"","food_recipe_keywords":"","food_recipe_category":"","food_recipe_cuisine":"","food_recipe_yield":"","food_recipe_calories":"","enable_print_recipe":"0","ingredient":[{"item":""}],"instruction":"","jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"enable_post_split":"0","post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[72,46,55],"class_list":["post-216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cobalt","tag-congo","tag-kinshasa","post_format-post-format-video"],"yoast_head":"\n