Unethical Practices That Power Our Smartphones
The dozens of minerals that go into making your phone originate in many of the worlds most resource-rich but poverty-stricken countries.
The dozens of minerals that go into making your phone originate in many of the worlds most resource-rich but poverty-stricken countries. In the conflict-riven Congo, neither gold nor diamonds matter as much as cobalt, one of the main ingredients in your phones rechargeable battery. We unearth the truth behind what it takes to create that shiny object you adore.
In the mobile phone in your hand lies the fate of thousands of cobalt miners in Congo the coveted metal is an essential component of lithium-ion batteries used in smartphones and other devices. About 110,000 metric tonnes of it was mined in 2017 and demand continues to rise with the growing appetite for smartphones and electric cars, which are mostly powered by nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries. Although cobalt is sourced from all over the world, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains the biggest supplier. It produces 60 percent of the global supply, mining the metal from the Central African Copper Belt in the DRCs southeastern provinces. Cobalt mining constitutes 30 percent of the Congos GDP and about 20 million Congolese have entered the industry to eke out a living amidst severe poverty.
While most of the cobalt comes from large industrial mines that are owned by multinational corporations, a significant portion comes from artisanal or small-scale mines either run by the government or managed informally. Largely unregulated, they typically run on a low-capital and labour-intensive model.
In 2017, Sky News, which investigated several mines in the former Congolese province of Katanga where cobalt is mined, discovered that children were working in all of them and some were as young as four. In footage released by the news organisation, two Congolese boys, Dorsen and Richard, are seen hauling sacks of cobalt in the rain and threatened with a beating should they bungle. Children also descend hand-dug shafts that frequently collapse without any