In première gegaan op 24 feb. 2022
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’s 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.
This buried treasure has lured hundreds of thousands of Congolese to work in the country’s mines, big and small.
But mining is dangerous, corruption and violence is rife and though child labour has been banned, it’s common.
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.
“Unfortunately people even are dying for lack of safety,” says an employee of one big company.
Australian reporter Michael Davie travels to this mineral-rich country to investigate the industry – from the major Chinese-owned companies to the conditions of the small-scale workers on the fringes of the big mines.
It’s a dangerous mission and Davie is followed, harassed and arrested by mine and government security officials.
What he uncovers is shocking.
The day he arrives there’s been a mine cave-in, killing at least six miners.
He sees miners tunnel 25 metres underground with no safety equipment.
He meets primary school-age children handling cobalt, a toxic metal which can cause serious health effects.
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.
He secures a video which shows a man being beaten by a Congolese soldier as mine managers watch on, laughing.
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’t benefitting from the boom.
“There is no investment coming back in terms of environment, infrastructure…We don’t have road facilities, we don’t have communication. There is nothing.”
But there’s hope amidst the gloom. Davie meets the Good Shepherd Sisters, nuns who’ve set up a school near the mines and educated thousands of children.
“If the children are given education, if schools are spread all over and every child goes to school, then we are redeeming this country,” says one nun.
This is a rare insight into a powerful industry which operates a dangerous business with seeming impunity. All of us use the end products.
About Foreign Correspondent:
Foreign Correspondent is the prime-time international public affairs program on Australia’s national broadcaster, ABC-TV. We produce half-hour duration in-depth reports for broadcast across the ABC’s television channels and digital platforms. Since 1992, our teams have journeyed to more than 170 countries to report on war, natural calamity and social and political upheaval – through the eyes of the people at the heart of it all.
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Cobalt is used in the Lithium-ion battery making process, so this is a long time problem. Anyone who’s had a phone or a laptop in the last 20 years is part of this process. EV’s could accelerate the scale of the issue where the sheer quantity of minerals required to produce batteries at that size and scale is a real problem. Research is going into how to try and eliminate Cobalt from the battery making process while keeping the same amount of charge. Technically you can make a battery without cobalt, but it’s our willingness to accept a battery that doesn’t hold as much charge. So far there isn’t a magical replacement for Cobalt just yet. Probably the main factor for moving away from cobalt is that it’s rare enough that it isn’t sustainable to make batteries at the scale required for all cars to be EV’s. Car makers know they need to find a more abundant element to make batteries with. The main issue right now is everything is so corrupt in Congo that it’s difficult to clean up the process to have ethically mined Cobalt.
That’s a really excellent piece of documentary. I have also watched a similar one from DW which is called the Price of Green Energy.
This took my words. Thank you very much for the content
Thank you for sharing this. 
Anything you buy on the open market could have a hideous history.. It’s impossible for nations to have sovereignty AND have a global commodities market with the oversight to prevent this kind of thing. The only solution for this specific cobalt problem atm, is the one being taken… take cobalt out of our battery chemistry, it’s not too hard…. Fortunately grid storage is better suited to sodium batteries that don’t need cobalt, it’s mostly EV’s and portable stuff that has the issue for now..
“there is no such thing as clean green free anything. there are only different shades of dirty brown” – me, last century.
69 likes only?! This needs way more exposure.
1st time I’ve heard about this until I watched this so many shut things going on at the same time all over the world… I’m different world you could all be watching out down children and family surviving like this ?
Less than 20% of all cobalt in the world is used in EVs, and the sector is moving away from the element. Currently more cobalt is used in your combustion engine car muffler to reduce the toxic compounds emitted. Just wanted to add the nuance, it’s very sad that these violation of human right and dignity only play a role when new industries try to develop and disrupt the status quo. I also dislike the anti China angle the west currently and historically has a far larger footprint of exploitation. Look att mica for your makeup, coa, sugarcane, diamonds, bananas, gold, oil, sweatshops, etc. We all need to ask more from the companies that build and sell our products, and stop pointing fingers we all have blood on our hands.
Congo should not be poor 
Those beautiful children…..
The nun is a truly beautiful woman
Poor people paying the price for the self appointed virtuous ones who think they are saving the universe by driving electric cars
I’m amazed at how long it took for the ABC to finally bring this to light…
Congolese law??? You talk about congolese law???? You should kidding my friend….
The boss eats. The maid scraps the plate , the dog 
leak. The rat is beaten . Artisinal makes it sound good. Illegal is more appropriate
Elon: our cars is more green than the hydrogen car
How green are EV cars again?
Sombody needs to show this to Elon musk
I think Australia did similar in Timor.
As an Australian, the shame runs deep. This stuffs in my phone?! I’ve lost 3 children, but not like this. Not like this.
Natalia Dashan
4 jaar geleden