Andre clocks into his job at the Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) in the Democratic Republic of Congo at 7 in the morning, and he leaves at 6 at night. The work is physically demanding, and while KCC provides Andre with lunch, he says the food quality is poor, and he’s often hungry afterward. He is also thirsty, with only a little over a liter of water provided to him a day, despite toiling deep underground in a mine that gets swelteringly hot.
KCC is the largest cobalt-producing mine in the world.
But eliminating cobalt doesn’t change the fact that until the world significantly ramps up EV battery recycling, most battery metals will need to be mined from the Earth. And there are no guarantees that the metals inside a nickel or aluminum-rich battery will be mined under better conditions than cobalt is. At the same time, if powerful players choose to divest entirely from countries like the DRC to avoid reputational damage, that could do more harm to local workers and economies than exploitative mines.
As demand surges, advocates like Van Woudenberg are concerned that the plight of Congolese miners will worsen unless the industry is forced to reckon with its labor practices. Mining companies and consumer-facing EV brands both have a responsibility,
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