More than half of the cobalt processed worldwide comes from the Katanga region in the south of the country, writes a US research team in a current study in the journal “One Earth”. According to the analyzes, there is a wild west mentality in the mining areas there, largely without compliance with social, labor law, health or ecological standards. While most of the cobalt in Katanga is mined industrially, 15 to 20 percent of the total is mined by around 110,000 to 150,000 workers in small-scale mining.
The team from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, studied the effects of ASM on people’s working and living conditions in Lualaba Province, part of Katanga. Although the central government has designated special mining zones, the mineral is also being searched for on the edge of these areas – in countless, spontaneously dug and unsecured shafts and tunnels.
“You’d think mining means just digging something up,” said Northwestern University co-author Sera Young in a statement from her university. “But they don’t dig in open land. Residential land is being dug up. People are literally digging holes in their living rooms. “
Most of the ASM in Lualaba is controlled by cooperatives established by local traders or foreign investors, the team writes. Such cooperatives, in turn, would enter into contracts with the local mining companies.
For membership in a cooperative, workers have to pay an annual fee of the equivalent of 15 US dollars (about 13 euros). In addition, there are many non-organized miners who mine and sell cobalt on their own. The two groups can hardly be clearly demarcated from one another because workers often move around in search of the most productive deposits.
It is said that the cooperatives actually have to comply with safety and environmental standards. As a rule, however, this is not checked. The ore from which cobalt is extracted is therefore mostly mined with simple hand tools such as hammers and chisels or picks.
According to the report, only men are allowed to dig in the shafts, some of which are more than 30 meters deep. Accordingly, women work above ground, and child labor is also common in the mining areas. The mined ores are carried to streams, lakes or water points in order to wash and sort them.
The cobalt-containing ore is then typically sold in 25-kilogram sacks. For a sack with a cobalt content of 1.5 percent, the cooperative pays the workers around 25 US dollars (22 euros). The cooperatives, in turn, continued to sell the sacks at a price that the workers usually do not know.
Workers without affiliation to cooperatives could sell their material directly and negotiate the price themselves, but then dig for the metal on their own. “You have to look after your own mineral deposits, which can be dangerous, but also fruitless.”
There are no fixed wages for people in ASM or a fixed workload. “The payment depends solely on the amount of cobalt extracted and the market price for a 25-kilo sack,” explains the team. “Miners often work as long as they can (sometimes day and night) to increase their income.”
The team highlights the expropriation of land and the relocation of people who live on cobalt deposits as a major social problem. Traditionally, the country belongs to the respective municipalities. According to the report, their leaders are massively courted by the mining companies who want to mine cobalt – for example with money, gifts or offers such as building a school.
Anyone who cannot prove their claim to property, which is traditionally usually the case, is usually evicted without compensation. “This is our country, we have always lived here,” the team quotes a resident of Kasulo. “Some people forge property documents, not only to get compensation payments, but also to steal our land from us.”
The prospect of a better income is attracting many out of town people to the area, according to the report. They built their settlements and their own administrative structures there, which also led to conflicts. “Violence is common and has a negative impact on living conditions in Lualaba,” writes the team. “During our stay, participants reported conflicts between different ethnic groups, especially between migrant workers and local residents.”
According to the study, another problem concerns the environment and the health of local residents, as mining in many places pollutes the soil, air and water. For example, the water in those places where the ore extracted is washed is no longer suitable for drinking and is also unusable for many other purposes. “Arable land can also become sterile due to the toxins and pollutants that arise from cobalt mining.” According to this, agricultural yields deteriorated so much in many places that some people across the border in neighboring Zambia have to buy food.
Another health risk is the work in the shafts, which are often at risk of collapsing, the researchers write. There is usually no occupational safety. During their visits to such small mines, they did not notice any protective measures: The shafts themselves are usually not secured, and there are also no facilities such as railings or warning signs.
The team emphasizes that the report should not only inform decision-makers from politics and business, but also consumers: in the development, financing and use of green energies, for example, decisions should be made that are not only technologically but also socially and ethically responsible.
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