Narratives of Change: The Human and Climate Impacts of Cobalt Mining for EVs

Narratives of Change: The Human and Climate Impacts of Cobalt Mining for EVs

by Adiza Mohammed

According to statistics, world reserves of cobalt were estimated to be approximately 8.3 million tonnes in 2022. The Democratic Republic of Congo has the largest known reserves of cobalt, making up 48% of the world total. Canada ranks seventh in the world with 220,000 tonnes. With this huge quantity of cobalt produced, it can be estimated that it is in high demand especially in the electric vehicle (EV) market. Although cobalt is used for other electronics, one of its primary uses is in rechargeable electric vehicle batteries. 

According to science, cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. Classified as a transition metal, cobalt is a solid at room temperature. Cobalt is also used to make airbags in automobiles; catalysts for the petroleum and chemical industries; cemented carbides (also called hard metals) and diamond tools; corrosion- and wear-resistant alloys; drying agents for paints, varnishes, and inks; dyes and pigments; ground coats for porcelain enamels. 

With all these magnificent uses, cobalt unfortunately has very harmful effects on humans and the environment. This hence poses the question of should we continue to use these wonderful services that come as a result of cobalt? Are there other alternatives? And why aren't we using these alternatives?

In most of the cobalt mining areas, especially in Congo, the people are working in subhuman, degrading conditions using pickaxes and shovels to dig for cobalt in small-scale mines. An example UCK Drain on the outskirts of Kolwezi in the DRC's southern copper belt, where great amounts of cobalt are mined. Although the DRC has more cobalt reserves than the rest of the planet combined, there's no such thing as a "clean" supply chain of cobalt from the country. In Congo, cobalt is being extracted by artisanal miners who do extremely dangerous labor for the equivalent of just a few dollars a day. Most of these miners are men. women with no jobs and  children who have either been kidnapped or forced into child labor. 

These people are crammed into tight pits and payed just a dollar a day to make tons of cobalt in a year. Although this is against the law, it is what's happening. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced because their villages were just bulldozed over to make place for large mining concessions. After taking over their homes, they punish them further by subjecting them to intense and harsh working conditions at the mines which is inhumane. So you have people with no alternative, no other source of income, no livelihood.  The Mines have taken over everything and left them with no other alternative than to suffer. 

Parents are forced to take tough decisions like decide between food and taking their kids to school. Some have to send their kids off to the Mines so they can earn some extra cents to feed their families. There have been instances of pits caving in on people. Kids loose their lives trying to make ends meet. After these situations the people are left on their own to suffer and grieve  their loss on their own with no compensation. There are people whose legs had been amputated, who had metal bars in where their legs used to be. And then the worst of all is what happens in tunnel digging. There are probably 10,000 to 15,000 tunnels that are dug by hand by artisanal miners. None of them have supports, ventilation shafts, rock bolts, anything like that. And these tunnels collapse all the time, burying alive everyone who is down there, including children. Aside these,  they suffer health issues such as asthma-like allergy. Future exposure can cause asthma attacks with shortness of breath, wheezing, cough, and/or chest tightness. * Cobalt may affect the heart, thyroid, liver and kidneys. Not forgetting Repeated exposure to Cobalt dust can cause scarring of the lungs (fibrosis) even if no symptoms are noticed.

In order to claim more land space for cobalt mining, millions of trees have been cut down. This goes a long way to affect air quality as there will be more carbon in the atmosphere hence leading to adverse weather conditions. The air around mines is hazy with dust and grit, and the water has been contaminated with toxic effluents from the mining processing. Cobalt is toxic and dangerous to touch or breathe yet there are thousands of people in the mine fields handling them everyday. 

All these effects put together make the idea of cobalt mining a risk the people shouldn't be taking. Why should these poor people suffer because of industrialization? Are electric vehicles worth more than the lives of the people. In the 21st century, this is modern-day slavery. It's not chattel slavery from the 18th century where you can buy and trade people and own title over a person like property. But the level of degradation, the level of exploitation can be made equivalent to old-world slavery. Apple has pledged to only use recycled cobalt in its batteries by 2025. That would eliminate it from any new cobalt production. And Tesla is no longer using cobalt in many of its new cars. In April 2022, it reported that around half of its new vehicles were using cobalt-free iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries. This should be a motivation to the other companies that reply on cobalt to start looking for recycling alternatives or other materials. We need to care for our planets and the people in it irrespective of who they are.

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