Electric vehicle batteries depend heavily on elements like cobalt. Mining cobalt, however, can come at huge environmental and human costs.
In a recent investigation for Mongabay, journalist Didier Makal traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where more than half the world’s cobalt reserves are located. He visited several villages in Lualaba province to see firsthand some of the damages caused by cobalt mining.
Makal found that mining companies have dumped acidic waste into the environment, killing fish and vegetation. Exposure to pollution killed at least 11 people, many others have suffered from skin rashes and sores, premature births, and stillbirths. In one village, Makal observed cassava crops rotting after acid water was dumped nearby, and other crops had poor harvests. As a result, many residents struggle to survive. In the village of Kabombwa only two residents remained, the rest of the village was forced to abandon their homes and resettle elsewhere.
Chinese companies control most cobalt mining companies in the DRC, Makal writes, while the state-owned company Gécamines is a shareholder in many of these companies. “But many investigations, including this one, find Gécamines either complicit in the impunity companies benefit from, or a victim of it,” the report notes.
Read the original Mongabay story “Impunity and pollution abound in DRC mining along the road to the energy transition” by Didier Makal.
Banner image: Sulfur on the ground in Dikuluwe. Image by Didier Makal.
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