Blood, Sweat And Batteries: The Issues Of Cobalt Mining

The main issues in this case are all connected and related to each other through one main topic: cobalt mining. They are, child labor, growth of cobalt demand faced with children mining and very bad working conditions, environmental health issues since cobalt is very dangerous “NGOs believe is particularly toxic for young lungs” [1] and finally the fact that mining is a highly “desired” job and that approximately 50% of the world supplied cobalt is concentrated in DRC.

The stakeholders in this case are numerous and include different domains. We have political actors: the Government of DRC and authorities (ex: the police) and ministries whether it’s the state’s or a province (provincial ministry of mines), Washington DC government and China’s Chamber of commerce. We also have companies: Chinese commodity trading companies, automakers and auto industry (General Motors, Volkswagen, Tesla… or so called “western tech giants” [2]), trading companies (London-based cobalt-trading), technology, automotive and mining companies (Samsung, Apple, Sony…, Glencore, CDM) which in big part can be summed to device-driven tech economy and finally battery manufacturers (South-Korea and China),Civilians and Organizations can also be considered as actors (NGOs specially): Congolese activists, even “civilians” (poor families), organizations and NGOs (OECD, PACT). In the end, the market could potentially too be not a stakeholder but maybe a major actor same way for the UN (is not really mentioned but I think it should be one). In my opinion, the government should take the most responsibility for the continued use of child labor in the cobalt mining industry. Because firstly, the government is not really caring about this issue; it is only paying attention to its own personal interests. They only want to make money even though they are using children as workers. They are ignoring the human rights of their own people “Basic human rights still are not respected in a large number of nations”.

Mining accounts for about 80% of the DRC's earnings. Roughly 50% of the world’s cobalt is taken from DRC and with a non-stop increase in demand “it could triple by 2025 and then double again, reaching about 357,000 tons a year by 2030” [4] which is seven times more the current levels. According to Amnesty International, a significant percentage (~20%) of the cobalt mining in the DRC is done by artisanal miners working in tandem with corporations [5]. First of all, on one side we have very bad and poor conditions in jobs of mining, horrendous tooling “basic hand tools like lengths of rebar to hack away at the surface, and hauling up rocks with handmade lengths of rope”[6], and of course the very big main issue which is the abusive advantage taking of child labor. In addition, these issues are maximized and become even more dangerous by the extreme political instability and corruption “There always have been and always will be corrupt government officials”[7] that the DRC is facing in and also around its territories.

On another hand, exploiting new mines of cobalt in other countries like Canada for example would be a good idea. However it might not perfectly satisfy the business profitability because of the workforce price and the set-up of a whole mine price. Not to forget that finding a mine with that amount of cobalt will cost a lot of money that companies might not be happy to pay and it will take too long to be active. Finally, we have to understand that having new mines in new states will not necessarily solve the main issue in DRC. On the other side of this discussion, mining for cobalt in DRC is still beneficial and has different positive points to it, whether it is on the personal scale or that of the companies. Looking for cobalt in Congo is extremely cheaper than doing it anywhere else in the world. The Congolese labor force does not require high salaries and is definitely efficient since the employees work very hard for long hours and ask for a small amount of money.

Furthermore, we’re obliged to mention that this sector is very helpful to the population which is a very poor one. Families need to send their children to do the job because sometimes it’s there only way of financial support: “Some fear they will lose the income they desperately need to survive” [8]. Finally, it is worth to mention that cobalt mining in DRC represents 80% of its total earnings. This means that the whole country depends on it. Thus keeping it active is an inevitable option. To end this debate, I will focus on solutions that different actors can use or apply to maintain this level of productivity while respecting all the norms and laws. First of all, looking for new projects in other countries is potentially a good idea. Conducting operations from Canada for example would be more efficient and definitely easier with hopefully enough to fund the companies that will pay in its opening. Secondly, companies should focus on the working conditions. They have to increase the amount of electrical tools and vehicles specially that DRC’s climate is a harsh one. They should also improve the personal equipment to decrease as much as possible the health danger and risks of being exposed to cobalt’s radiations since the population working in mines can’t afford any of it. With the help of the government, different actors should raise more awareness and work on educating people about mining. For example, make it a law that pregnant women should not work. They can also invest more in health care, hospitals, programs like the one that Apple funded and most importantly schools to train and educate the new generations.

Finally, for the main issue that is child labor, in addition to the previous solutions that could definitely help with this problem, the government must help families earn their minimum income in order to survive without pushing children to work, which will also reduce poverty, they should implement very strict laws concerning child labor, replace the children workers with adult ones, that way unemployment rate could also drop and finally, companies and their owners have to take the pledge of never involving kids in any of their jobs. These solutions can be stop not only the issues concerning the mines but also other national issues as mentioned before. To conclude, in my opinion, I think that if the big companies stop buying cobalt from the producers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, they will be abandoning a long-term business because of short-term problems that could be sorted-out in a more strategic perspective. That is why I don’t think that Apple and other companies should take this course of action and stop buying cobalt from producers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

To combat corruption in Hong Kong, the ICAC focuses mainly on prevention by examining the practices of different companies in different sectors but also by raising awareness about this subject and providing corruption prevention assistance to any person or company in need. However, ICAC is not all about prevention only. It has also developed a certain strategy to fight corruption. This approach is divided into 3 different branches that are independent but still achieve maximum efficiency by relying on the performances of the others subdivisions.

Firstly, we have the operations department which uses law enforcement; it receives, considers and investigates alleged corruption offences. Then we have the Corruption Prevention Department which puts in place prevention; it examines practices and procedures of government departments and public bodies to reduce corruption opportunities and offers free and confidential corruption prevention advice to private organizations upon request. Finally, there is the Community Relations Department which acts on education; it educates the public against the evils of corruption and enlists public support in combating corruption.

To ensure that no corruption takes place within my organization, I would mainly focus on educating my employees about corruption in all its ways. I will explain implement training sessions where they understand the 4As of bribery for example and how to avoid them and not to fall in their traps which ends with Abiding by the laws (PBO). I will make sure that everyone complies with regulations. I will also raise awareness so that my employees beware of sweetening and also not to put themselves in a position of obligation. Finally, I have to make sure that everyone understands perfectly that they have to give zero tolerance of corruption/malpractice and to Report corruption.