- Roughly 75 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt is mined in the Congo, often by peasants and children in sub-human conditions.
- Cobalt is an essential component to every lithium-ion rechargeable battery made today, the batteries that power smartphones, tablets, laptops, electric vehicles and in many cases national grids.
- In his book, Cobalt Red – How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives, Siddharth Kara exposes the child slavery, brutal mining practices of the Chinese militia-controlled mining areas and the deaths.
Kara, a Harvard visiting professor and modern slavery activist has exposed the “appalling” cobalt mining industry in the Congo in his book Cobalt Red – How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives. His investigation has been amplified on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience that has gone viral.
“Before anyone knew what was happening, the Chinese government Chinese mining companies took control of almost all the big mines and the local population has been displaced,” Prof Kara said.
Subsequently, the Congolese are “under duress”. “They dig in absolutely subhuman, gut-wrenching conditions for a dollar a day, feeding cobalt up the supply chain into all the phones, all the tablets, and especially electric cars,” he said.
Big questions must be asked of Tesla, Apple, Intel plus other car and battery manufacturers regarding their cobalt supply value change.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
