Rating: 7.5/10.
Book of investigative journalism covering the DRC (Congo), where 70% of the world’s cobalt mining occurs. Cobalt is a metal that is crucial for the development of high-efficiency lithium-ion batteries that are used in smartphones, other electronic devices, and most importantly, electric vehicles; the Congo has some of the purest forms of the metal anywhere in the world, yet it is one of the poorest places in the world, with millions of “artisanal miners” who work with primitive tools to mine cobalt through a long and obscure supply chain with origins that are hard to trace.
Even though tech companies claim that their cobalt is sourced ethically, in reality, nobody knows for certain, as the author had to go to great risk to explore these places and report back on the conditions in places guarded by militia who aren’t keen on journalists poking around. The Congo has had a long history of having an abundance of nearly every natural resource while having its local population exploited in efforts to extract them. Cobalt is the most modern such resource, ever since the Belgian King Leopold forced the local population to deliver rubber sap. Afterwards, it was involved in numerous civil conflicts, including those involving neighboring Rwanda.
In each mine, thousands of men, women, and children dig into the earth with shovels under loosely supervised conditions, making about $1 a day. They sell their findings to middlemen who transport the ore to a depot, which is often run by Chinese operators, before it eventually enters the formal supply chain. Each middlemen, take a sizable cut of the profits, especially the transporters who own motorbikes. Due to the numerous middlemen involved, it’s difficult to trace what is happening or determine whether child labor is involved. There are numerous horrifying accounts of adults and children being forced to labor in underground mines, with a common pattern of mine collapses killing dozens of workers who become trapped underground and usually in these cases only a few bodies can be recovered. The author witnessed one of these collapses during their trip. Another recurring theme is children being forced to work in the mines because they have no other way to make a living, and many choose to avoid school due to the presence of the mines. Many other livelihoods like agriculture and fishing are no longer viable since the pollution from mining has made the region highly toxic.
The final part of the book explores the management behind these operations and how artistanal miners are tolerated because they are quite efficient in producing higher quality ore compared to industrial machinery. Some managerial positions, like depot managers are from China who came for work due to too much competition at home; their lives are often difficult since they go a year without seeing their families, and they don’t get along well with the Congolese locals. There have been some attempts at more organized efforts to structure artisanal mining and improve conditions, but these have had mixed results; there isn’t really any solution to the constant danger of mine collapse, as their lives can end at any moment. Overall, this eye-opening book of investigative journalism uncovers the state of things in one of the world’s poorest nations, but a somewhat dark read to go through all these accounts of a desperate population with little hope of things improving.
