The Democratic Republic
of Congo (DNC) is home
to 3.4 million tons of cobalt
-- more than half of all
the cobalt in the world.
The second-largest
cobalt reserves are
found in Australia,
at 1.2 million tons.
Cobalt is a grey metal
once used for making
bright blue pigment.
Today cobalt is an
essential component
of lithium ion batteries.
The DRC is also
one of the poorest
and most politically
unstable countries
in the world,
A perfect
environment
for cheap labor—
and even cheaper
child labor.
The electric vehicle and
computer revolutions
created a boom in
child labor in the DRC
-- child cobalt miners
offer battery makers
and Big Tech cheap labor.
The first reports about
child labor in DRC cobalt
mines emerged several
years ago.
There’s a chance
that a ten -year-old
has been killed,
maimed,
or at least hurt,
in the process
of mining cobalt .
Lawyers failed
to bring down
giant miners
of cobalt in DRC,
such as Glencore.
This time lawyers
are going after the
cobalt end users.
The International Rights
Advocates filed a lawsuit
against Tesla, Apple, Dell,
Microsoft, and Alphabet
for knowingly benefiting
financially from child labor
in the DRC.
The suit was filed
on behalf of
13 African families
whose children died,
or were seriously
injured, while
mining for cobalt.
The suit also
seeks damages
from miners
Glencore
and Zhejiang
Huayou Cobalt,
which supply
cobalt to the
tech majors,
and to Tesla.
Carmakers were
quick to react.
A number of large
carmakers formed
what they are calling
the Responsible
Sourcing Blockchain
Network.
Members include
Volkswagen, Ford,
Volvo and, the most
recent addition,
Fiat Chrysler.
Glencore,
which is a defendant
in the International
Rights Advocates case,
is also a member
of the network.
The network should
allegedly enable
the carmakers, and
their cobalt suppliers,
to track the metal
from the mine to
the battery factory,
and ensure there was
no child labor involved
in mining it.
The effectiveness of the
network only reaches
as far as its members.
Mines who don't join
the network could
continue exploiting
children.
Cobalt miner wages
in Australia are
much higher than
in the DRC, where
one child laborer
who Fortune
interviewed last year
said he made $9
“on good days”.
Carmakers need
the cobalt
for EV batteries.
Batteries are already
the costliest component
of an electric vehicle
Ethical mining, with
reasonable health
and safety standards,
will increase the price
of cobalt.