How cobalt mining became a disaster for Congolese communities | DW News
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- čas přidán 16. 09. 2023
- In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the town of Kolwezi sits on huge reserves of cobalt, which is a crucial ingredient in rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles, mobile phones and laptops. But it has proved disastrous for the community.
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To have one of the most valuable resources in the world and just give it away to corrupt foreign companies. Madness. The corruption levels in Africa are beyond comprehension.
At 7:27 is actually one of Apple's contracted companies, subcontractor. Not even joking, Apple is actually aware about this but since its a subcontractor they can get around it. Apple make about 400$ of pure profit on every phone it sells.
We are watching this with our phones and computers
Greedy owners of mining companies all over the world are the same: only money counts; human lives and the environment are worthless. May all those who are victimized by these evil people get justice.
Mining. Farm plantations. Sweatshops.
They're all the same in being highly exploitive of people and nature for profit.
The whole world needs to get a grip on material dialectics.
@@tazdingo5297
Your world view is too narrow. You make red herrings for someone's laptop, and excuse large capital who made it their business to extract wealth from people and destroying nature - and they have the capital to hire gunmen to keep the profits coming
@@tazdingo5297
FYI, cobalt or coltan long before lithium batteries were and still being mined to remove Sulpher out of oil products.
Arguably that demand exceeds that of batteries, and it immediately ends up as slag and not recyclable as batteries.
@@tazdingo5297 It's the responsibility of the state to hold corporations and business people accountable and enforce human rights laws, not consumers.
They're absolutely not the same all over the world. Mining ops in Canada are incredibly well regulated, and are forced to remediate the environment even after production ceases. Just look at the Sudbury regreening project
Its a shame my country DRC 🇨🇩 is still being abused by our own government and corrupt international business men and women who have evil interests in seeing congolese people suffer further...while these evil people profit (massively from this exploitation).
I once saw an interview with a congolese "war lord" who had gotten an amnisty, he said: I'll keep the agreement cause I'm a businessman. It became cultural, business equals war and exploitation. 😢
Here in America,the Democrats have said that using your country and abusing your people is the only way to overcome climate change. They are ok with your people dying for the cause.....we are trying to change that here,but the Democrats are so powerful. The rest of us Americans are doing our best to stop them.....we need you to be as loud as possible so the main stream media here will have to report on this.....they ignore it and keep what is going on there from the people here in America. If we all get together,we will make more progress on educating the people who are against you
What does the "D" in the DRC stand for? Learn how to use it
This is horrible! With all the money they are making from the mining the very least they can do is to move the people to a brand new development with all the amenities and give them a good new life. Burning down their houses is despicable. National guard or not these are criminal actions! But the day will come that they will have to account for their doings 😔
Acteully western companies took most and for decades told security forces what to do
Not sure about it now
That's Capitalism 🤷💀
That's the exploitation of surplus value
That's business as usual
Oh yeah horrible. Guess who is perpetuating it? Europe
How about nickel mining in Borneo, Indonesia?
The Government of the DRC must be brought to account for allowing these mining companies to run rampant in their country
Tshikedi is useless and unfortunately he will not be held to account because he benefits from the massive exploitation of the Congolese communities in DRC 🇨🇩 (my country).
Literally no one will hold him to it, not even the UN!
The gov of DRC can't even control it's own territory let alone check mines 🤷♀️
If Congo government goes against these companies, there will be no aid and punishment by the West and China
do you know how bribery works?
feel free to go down there and bring them to justice white liberal woman
7:38 Dancing guy.
Thank you for covering this!
A bit late, but I guess better late than never.
Excellent reporting, as usual!
It's time to sanction these Mining companies....
let me guess china? who else do we except from DW
@@blolee-gc1sr I don't think so...If it was China...then the headline would have been completely different... Blaming china all along....That's the saddest thing....why they don't mention the company name origin....
It is sad that the mining companies were not named. We, through them, are the beneficiaries of resource extraction and they get access to those resources from the local government. Yes, it would cost us more to have the residents properly relocated, but so be it.
Lithium Americas in Thacker Pass Chinese and Canadian owed are involved
At 7:27 is actually one of Apple's contracted companies, subcontractor. Not even joking, Apple is actually aware about this but since its a subcontractor they can get around it. Apple make about 400$ of pure profit on every phone it sells.
DGI (Dan Gertler International
The issue of Cobalt in the DRC is always framed as an issue with EVs. It's not entirely true. Only about half of cobalt demand is for batteries. Even gas turbines need cobalt in alloys for the turbine blades. Jet turbines obviously as well. Many ceramics and glazes. The list goes on and on.
Where one person profits another 10 suffer.
@SmokeyStoner -- you hit the nail on its head...
West expliot these poor people to be able for them to live healthy "green" living 🤡🤡🤡 hypocrisy at its finest
China owns the mining in congo not the "west".
@@FarsightAEalso if the mining company wasn't there, there would be nothing in the area. People in developed countries have a really difficult time wrapping their heads around subsistence living because they live in a world where there are many options when it comes to work.
@@FarsightAE chinas company but whos buying? 🤡🤡🤡🤡, lol
@@Mr.Clownensky China does. And india. Most of african resources go to asia. 🤡🤡🤡
@@Mr.Clownenskychina EV producers? You know, the biggest EV producers in the world?
Really!!!! Why don't you provide the name of these corporations.......
DGI (Dan Gertler International
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽Those poor people 😢
Maybe bring it up for the Chinese? In 2021 the biggest importer in Europe of Congolese cobalt was Belgium, that importet 0.049% of the Cobolt, for a bit over 2m$. While China imported 98.9% of the cobalt and spent 4.4B$.
China imports to produce stuff to sell, their major markets being europe and the states. So yeah, we all a bit guilty, being china the main culprit.
The China people there now
Europe been there 1000s of years
And many mines and isseus build up and led to this isseu
.its western world buddy
China came in when while ship was sinking from western abuse !
Atleast China builds schools and hospitals 🎉
Can we stop blaming tech becoming environmentally friendly and start blaming the countries government for not taking care of their own, ffs!
💯 I wish news reporters would criticized gas cars when there's a huge oil spill, but they don't. For some reason (brainwashing by the oil industry) they criticize EVs for the evil behavior of mining companies and corrupt governments.
It’s important to realise that cobalt is used by many industries. For example, there would be no oil without the cobalt needed to make the tool steel used to make the drill bits. There would be no oil or diesel without cobalt to desulphurise it during refining. It’s used widely in the batteries in our phones, tablets and computers, very little of which is recycled. As of the end of 2022 only 24% of world cobalt production was used in EV batteries. That is expected to rise but will probably plateau within a few years as cobalt is designed out of EV batteries, a process already well underway and recycling becomes the norm.
The problem for Africa is that its full of things the 1st world wants and it has no political, economical, legal or military capacity to protect its citizens or society from being exploited. Even DW will not name and shame the companies that buy the resources from DRC.
It's very sad when greedy corporations have zero concerns for human beings being misplaced because their quest for wealth...
Oh yes buzzwords.
How likely is it that you typed that comment on your smartphone that needed Congolese cobalt?
Theres a mistake at the beginning of this video, he listed some of the uses of Cobolt, but he missed out processing crude oil in particular removing the sulpher.
It does massively change the agreement when you see that all the petrol and diesel cars are responsible for some of this problem, but only some of the battery chemistries are not. LFP lythium batteries don't have any Cobolt and the Sodium batteries don't either, the sodium batteries don't even have lythium in them.
This is not a one-hour report, so it cannot discuss too many things in such a short period of time.
@@tajmajal4197it should be mentioned nonetheless. Cobalt is only part of the problem and not mentioning other exploitation examples only gives an argument to people to never ditch smoking smelly ICE cars.
@@tajmajal4197 A short report is no excuse for disinformation. The oil industry is in high gear spreading misinformation to bad mouth EVs, and news reporters have a responsibility to make sure they aren't repeating that bias.
When there's a huge oil spill how come news reporters don't blame gas cars? Why TF are EVs getting blamed for a corrupt evil government in Africa?
When has mining not been a disaster in Congo?
Given the realities on the ground, we should do our part by maximizing the lifespan of our digital devices..and only buy new ones when absolutely necessary.
At 7:27 is actually one of Apple's contracted companies, subcontractor. Not even joking, Apple is actually aware about this but since its a subcontractor they can get around it. Apple make about 400$ of pure profit on every phone it sells :(
Australia produces cobalt ethically. So why does Europe and China insist on unethical cobalt from the DRC for the same price?
It's not the same price, shipping from Africa is far more cheaper then crossing half the planet. It takes months for delivery by sea and the costs would be so high especially considering oil prices are going up again.
@@quantumfairing2216 Twaddle and shipping from DRC to China is slightly longer than Australia to China.
@@seanlander9321 yes, but China also owns the majortiy of the mines in Congo. They don't have the same controll over Australia.
Ethically legally is allergy for business
It's a wreck and lawless, easy for corporations to go unnoticed
The Chinese government is at fault in this situation! No osha safety regulations are followed. and the Congolese people live in abject poverty in the one of the richest deposits of cobalt in the world!
Congolese government is supposed to protect people but nothing is done. What a pity 😱 Shame and offense!
I feel anger when i see Foreign companies Stealing minerals in Africa and Enriching themselves while we Africans are living in abject poverty. We are looking for jobs abroad and yet we have rich continent.
This has been the case for a very long time now and it's not been a secret, it's been largely ignored so far .. I suppose they don't want to rock the boat and risk the resources supplied by those same mines.
Use metal plants to mine up the metals in the waste rock.
Also fun fact rice is very good at getting cobalt out of the earth.
Just crush it to almost sand and plant in it tada a new mine to get more resorces.
Fun fact metal plants up the % more then natural soil sometimes more then there ore and when burned to get that ore out of the plant you can produce energy and the ash can get up to 25% in terms of ore to weight.
What a bunch of nonsense, there's literally nothing around for miles and their houses are basically sheet metal shacks. Of course they should move the people.
Gibt es den Film auf Deutsch?
Le cerveau et la beaute sont si rares ! Merci Ms.Ofime.
Because they have such valuable resources, they should be made rich and not suffer😢
Why dont they say that all cobalt mining companies in Congo owned by chinese companies and Glencore from Switzerland. Dont try to make EU citizens feel guilty
for this as well...
and where do you think your batteries are made? in ireland? lol.
Because it's not true
Look at all those green mining machines.
that one parent could afford the feed the family
You have to blame the government for this. All companies are greedy but it's up to the governments to look after it's people. Sadly in Africa...greedy undemocratic governments do not look after their people and steal the countries money!
Exactly. When there's a huge oil spill how come news reporters don't blame gas cars? Why TF are EVs getting blamed for a corrupt evil government in Africa?
I know right. They've probably bribed the government officials by now.
Just look at the destruction. Oh Africa!!!
@@schweinsteiger3199 It's the _Resource Curse._ Discovering natural resources to be exploited can sometimes be the worst thing for a country's people. The good news in Congo is that the government looks to be headed in the direction of a real democracy.
imagine this airing on american news… oh wait, i can’t.
LiFePO4 batteries = no cobalt or nickel
LiFePO4 batteries = no cobalt or nickel
LiFePO4 batteries = no cobalt or nickel
Large deposits of cobalt-containing copper ore were first discovered in 1914 by the Belgian company Union Minière in the southern portion of the Belgian Congo Free State (Nzongola-Ntalaja, 2002).
Cobalt mine production increased 50% from 1977 to 1979 despite two secessionist conflicts in DRC's cobalt producing region and increased seven-fold from 1996 to 2003 despite two African wars over the DRC and its resources.
So whoever moved there 30 years ago? 😂 should just stick with the mine. Stop selling cobalt?
yet cobalt extraction has created so many jobs in Congo
Jobs that do not bloody pay the Congolese people, you crazy naive fool.
What earth do you live on, that (immorally) makes you think this sort of thing is ok 🤨
Suuuuuuure it has, they are making 45k each lol😅
Terrible! Good to know. Is there a company that only use recycled resources? So from now one i can buy my stuff on that website
Wow the DRC is dumb guess jessie Peterson is right. They could be richer then Dubai all that
Joe Rogan talked about this last year.. welcome to the party
Candy is very pretty…
Everything comes at a cost for people pushing EVs and/or alternatives. A real human cost is a reality and it is being witnessed here. China plays a huge roles in these mining operations and I really doubt they care about the Congolese people. The same issues are found in the gold mining industry when it comes to human rights abuse. Most of these minerals are being processed by CCP companies who make deals for resources.
This has nothing to do with EVs though. At 7:27 is actually one of Apple's contracted companies, subcontractor. Not even joking, Apple is actually aware about this but since its a subcontractor they can get around it. Apple make about 400$ of pure profit on every phone it sells :(
Forced laborer having fun 7:37
Being an ex colony of a European country didn’t help did it?
Does Candy have OF?
You actually pay money for only fans, man men in the west have become weak
😂😂😂
Horrible
Lol let them ask Burkina Faso for help.
Congo need A coup ,who Loves Africa kick the coloniser out
Idc??? I want my batteries made asap so get to Ming
Why not report dangerous climet eefects from cobalt...😢😂😂 they dont tell why are being evacuated
Ban batteries that use cobalt or nickel. Use LiFePO4 batteries followed by sodium-ion batteries when they're ready to remove need for lithium too.
And yet..everyone benefits from Africa except Africa
Who is the main customer? EU
yet they dont let they come in
The problem is the United states backs the Rebels!
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. They are like the security guards at Walmart. What purpose do they serve? Absolutely none.
Note that this is nor artisan "placer mining" - but fully industrialised mining - with well developed systems and processes - brutalising the community is unacceptable - how does any end producer countenance this - NB -decarbonisation is likely to increase the human tragedy many - fold - zero carbon may result in MAX - human-tragedy, who wants that?? The "planet" or the people ?? - NBB: what good is a planet - to us - without a people (without humanity, our experience of the planet -= and out "position" would be moot or at best irrelevant, "we are our planet" - "we form our habitat" - "we adapt and change").
Some minerals in Africa is a course for our people God gave us a selfish leaders
I really hope that a massive, mega geomagnetic storm hits the earth and throws us back to the 18th century.
Karma will bite people who are silent spectators …
I haven't seen India has brought this up either with China, since they own the majority of the Cobalt mines is run by them and used by them.
@@quantumfairing2216 unfortunately true . We have lots of issues with china but for some reason government isn’t talking much or banning imports from china
@@rajeevkharecause india foreign policy is only caring about india. Key word - only.
@@puraLusa global warming will impact all it won’t respect any boundaries
If you allow the destruction of southern European economies with the displacement of the supply chain, and thereofore the destruction of German and French economy, as Northern European countries depend on Southern European countries to sell their products, Europe will be less and less able to protect human rights from raiding companies. Additionally, polluting the oceons due to transportation. The Euro caused this displacement of the supply chain.
Must be the EU when most mines are in the hands of china 😂
yes, but I think that if all our jobs and money have gone to China, due to the Euro we have no voice to help stop it. We financed this issue with the money that we gave China due to the Euro@@puraLusa
Rich people driving teslas
Actually Tesla has been changing it's battery chemistry to LFP which doesn't have any Cobolt. But originally they did.
But lets hope people stop using petrol and diesel so that we can stop Cobolt from being used in the processing of the crude oil to remove the Sulphur.
@@matthewbaynham6286china will still mine and if not used it will stock pile it.
It would cost so little to look after these communities with a simple life.
So unnecessary to be so brutal.
Be kind and ha e ongoing local support.
Not sure why the companies would think in this day and age they will not be seen as
Nasty om the world stage.
Also DW, there is not a move away from fossil fuels.
That is what we are pretending to do.
Date shows more fossil fuels being used than ever AND ALSO now more renewable sources available.
Wait, do you think cryptocurrency will crash? I dont think so. More and more companies are integrating cryptocurrency into their operations: Amazon, Cannafarm Ltd, Burger King, even Starbucks, dude!
nuclear power best solution
nuclear has killed least
already use nuclear for ships
I truly hope you as a country can secure your resources as your own resources. Nobody else from another country should be able to do this Belgium ring any Bella here? Not as extreme as Rubber and oils. But, it's your country. Don't work, run away. No people, no work. I know it's your land, but if they can't work the land because of sabotage, then they have no Cobalt, organizing labor and accommodation, food, etc..eats into too much profit. So moving away to a better, safer region is a revenge move for all of Congo 🇨🇩😢
China is the main importer on the 90% scale. So 😂 ya must be belgium 🤣