Cobalt Red summary

Horrors like the modern cobalt mining industry aren’t unfamiliar to the Congo. For centuries, the country’s vast mineral wealth has more often been a curse than a blessing. From ivory and rubber in the colonial era to uranium for nuclear bombs and now cobalt for batteries, the Congo’s resources have repeatedly been plundered while its people suffer.

The saga began in 1482 when Portuguese explorer Diego Cão first encountered the Kingdom of Kongo at the mouth of the Congo River. This marked the start of European involvement in the region, initially through the slave trade. For nearly 400 years, Europeans remained largely confined to the coast, until explorers like David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley ventured into the interior in the late nineteenth century.

Imagine a place where the earth itself is a battleground – where men and boys descend into darkness each day, gambling their lives for a few dollars. This is Kolwezi, the heart of the Congo’s cobalt mining industry and ground zero for the global scramble for this precious mineral.

The city is surrounded by massive open-pit mines, but it’s in the neighborhood of Kasulo where the true horror unfolds. The landscape looks like a bombed-out battlefield, a vivid illustration of the environmental devastation caused by mining activities. 

Things weren’t always as dire as they are today in the cobalt mines. Until a few decades ago, the cobalt industry of the Congo was managed by the state-owned mining company Gécamines, which provided stable jobs and benefits to workers. But the collapse of Gécamines in the 1990s led to widespread hardship and the rise of artisanal mining. 

Now, powerful interests exploit this informal sector. Chinese-run depots purchase the cobalt sourced from artisanal miners, often at unfair prices. From there, artisanal mining feeds directly into the global supply chain. And despite claims of ethical sourcing by major tech and auto companies, it seems impossible to separate “clean” cobalt from the cobalt that’s mined under hazardous conditions by children and desperate adults.

The situation in the Congo’s mining provinces is a stark reminder of the human cost behind our technological advancement. The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated an already dire situation. As global demand for cobalt soared, with millions relying on rechargeable devices to work from home, conditions for Congolese miners deteriorated rapidly. Incomes have plummeted, illness has spread like wildfire, and children have been forced out of school and into the mines to help their families survive. 

Today, tragedy strikes with alarming frequency in the DRC’s cobalt belt. Just recently, a tunnel collapse at Kamilombe buried 63 people alive; most of their bodies were never recovered. As one translator poignantly stated, “A child in the Congo dies every day so [other people] can plug in their phones.”