Last year, a U.S. law took effect banning imports from China's Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor. In November, Canada ordered three Chinese companies to divest from Canadian critical minerals, citing national security. Global demand for cobalt is increasing, but the global cobalt market remains largely unregulated as it falls outside conflict mineral legislation regulating the extraction and sale of other mineral such as gold, coltan and tin from the DRC. I met children who had come from hundreds of miles away and have been brought through militia networks down into the copper cobalt mines to dig. Both elements are needed to make lightweight rechargeable batteries for electric cars and for storing power from wind and solar plants. The organizations are also calling on China to require Chinese extractive companies operating overseas to investigate their supply chains and address human rights abuses in their operations. an Account, Activate Siddharth Kara is an author, researcher, screenwriter, and activist on modern slavery. For instance,before meals, Quechua and Aymara peoples throw coca leaves or spill their drinks on the ground to share their food with these beings as a sign of gratitude and reciprocity. But in addition, perhaps other cultures could learn from Andean relations with nature as more-than-human beings: an inspiration torethink developmentand turn our own way of living into something less destructive. It may prove an economic boon. Siddharth Kara is an author, researcher, screenwriter, and activist on modern slavery. And so when big foreign. However, when we do, its going to be a big question for society. A representative for the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa did not respond to a request for comment. "Our research shows that lithium-ion batteries are produced with an input - cobalt - made by child labor," it said. Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin of the Wagner Group believes Ukraines offensive will begin in days one of several assessments that point to a pending rise in fighting. Even the nightmares and the terrors, it's all worth it. (Adds Trudeau quote on supply chain) The DRC produced approximately 74% of the world's cobalt in 2021. Democratic Republic of Congo's cobalt mines, the U.S. Labor Because we count on working with, in partnership, with Indigenous peoples, paying their living wages, expecting security and safety standards.". Volkswagen has also faced pressure over a production facility in Urumqi, prompting chief executive Herbert Diess to argue the car makers presence in Xinjiang can be a force for good. Wind and solar plants are set to replace coal and gas power stations, while electric cars oust petrol and diesel vehicles from our roads. Between 2008 and 2018 alone, annual production in the major producing countries rose from 25,400 to 85,000 tons. Lithium-ion battery prices have plummeted over the past decade or so, yet last year soaring metal prices helped to push up battery costs by 7%. I just hope I've done justice to those stories and to the people who shared their tragedies with me, courageously shared these tragedies with me. Hoovering up the nodules could devastate these life forms, marine scientists have warned. But this promise is not worth the paper it is written when the companies are not investigating their suppliers. In response, China accused Ottawa of using national security as a pretext and said the divestment order broke international commerce and market rules. Extracting the raw materials, mainly lithium and cobalt, requires large quantities of energy and water. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. Lithium and Cobalt are two crucial components to create electric vehicles and many batteries. Both lithium and cobalt mining have a negative impact on the communities around them. Millions of people enjoy the benefits of new technologies but rarely ask how they are made. He signed a deal with the Chinese government for access to mining concessions in exchange for development assistance, a commitment to build roads and some public health clinics, schools, hospitals, things like that and that opened the door. Chinese firms also own, operate or finance most of the So you have people with no alternative, no other source of income, no livelihood. "People are working in subhuman, grinding, degrading conditions. 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The lawsuit said the children, some as young as 6 years old, were forced by their families' extreme poverty to leave school and work in cobalt mining owned by the British mining company. Six said they were investigating the claims. China in response accused Ottawa of using national Similarly in Tibet, a toxic chemical leak from the Ganzizhou Rongda Lithium mine poisoned the local Lichu river in 2016 and triggered widespread protests in the region. Chinese firms also own, operate or finance most of the Democratic Republic of Congo's cobalt mines, the USLabour Department said in a recent report. Canada last year announced a tougher policy on critical mineral investment - particularly from China - as it worked to shore up its domestic supply after the global pandemic exposed supply chain problems. In December, the United Auto Workers union called on automakers to shift their entire supply chain out of Xinjiang after a report by Britain's Sheffield Hallam University suggested that nearly every major automaker hadsignificant exposure to products made with forced labour. Canada last year announced a tougher policy on critical mineral investment particularly from China as it worked to shore up its domestic supply after the global pandemic exposed supply chain problems. And while those outside of the DRC differentiate between cobalt extracted by the country's high-tech industrial mining companies and that which was dug by artisanal miners, Kara says the two are fundamentally intertwined. It places all of Chinas battery production at risk of violating US law and global norms around human rights, and that risk is only going to grow as China continues to build up EV-relevant industries in Xinjiang.. ", Kara says the mining industry has ravaged the landscape of the DRC. WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday linked the production of lithium in China to "slave labor" as he discussed his own country's efforts to ramp up production of the metal used in electric vehicle and other batteries. I spoke with many families whose children, husbands, spouses, had suffered horrific injuries. And the thing is, imagine the Congo. WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday linked the production of lithium in China to "slave labor" as he discussed his own country's efforts to ramp up production of the metal used in electric vehicle and other batteries. The new firm is 49 per cent owned by Ganfeng Zhongkai Mining Technology itself a joint venture between Ganfeng Lithium and Jiangsu Nonghua Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co. with state-backed Xinjiang Geology and Mineral Investment holding the remainder, according to Chinas National Enterprise Credit Informational Publicity System. FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. security as a pretext and said the divestment order broke "We shouldn't be transitioning to the use of electric vehicles at the cost of the people and environment of one of the most downtrodden and impoverished corners of the world," he says. that also supplies much of the world's materials for solar And then the worst of all is what happens in tunnel digging. In its response to Amnestys allegations, which Amnesty has published in full alongside responses from the other named companies, Apple said it was currently evaluating whether cobalt in the companys products originated in the DRC. Of the 16 companies listed in the report as sourcing from battery manufacturers using processed cobalt from Huayou Cobalt, two multinational companies denied sourcing any cobalt from the DRC and five said they had no links with Huayou Cobalt. They have about 70, 80% of the refined cobalt market and probably half of the battery market. One survey, in 2017, found more than 30 species new to science living on the zones abyssal plain, most of them xenophyophores considered the worlds largest living single-celled organisms. Tesla, which has invested heavily in the Chinese market and previously opened a showroom in Xinjiang, said in the report it found no instances of child labor, forced labor or inhumane treatment in audits of its suppliers. Nor will these ecological problems be confined to specialist metals, analysts have pointed out. The human rights groups say they traced the supply chain from these mining sites to Congo Dongfang Mining (CDM), one of the largest mineral processors in the DRC and a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese mineral company Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd (Huayou Cobalt). Lithium-ion technology has downsides for people and the planet. "The bottom of the supply chain, where almost all the world's cobalt is coming from, is a horror show. Technically, under the law, there should not be artisanal mining taking place in any industrial mine. Amnesty and Afrewatch are using the findings of the report to call on multinational companies to conduct investigations of their supply chains for lithium-ion batteries, to check for child labour or labour abuses and to be more transparent about their suppliers. China cornered the global cobalt market before anyone knew what was happening. Asians and Africans, many of them children, are being enslaved and are dying in mines, refineries, and factories to obtain the minerals and metals required for the green energy technologies Democrats are mandating. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. Password, My it by far the world's largest producer. panels. I arrived in the morning and would leave the following morning. REUTERS/Blair Gable/File PhotoReuters. The United States has alleged use of forced labor by China in sectors including mining and construction. A lithium producer for car makers including BMW and Tesla is beginning work to assess battery metals projects in Xinjiang, deepening links between electric vehicle supply chains and a region at. The politicians and their supporters don't seem to care. Before anyone knew what happened, Chinese companies had seized ownership of 15 of the 19 primary industrial copper-cobalt mining concessions down there. 40,000 children working in all the mines across the south, many involved in mining cobalt. Amnesty International researchers also found that the vast majority of miners spend long hours every day working with cobalt without the most basic of protective equipment, such as gloves, work clothes or facemasks to protect them from lung or skin disease. In one village we visited, people showed us how the water in the local stream that they drank was contaminated by the discharge of waste from a mineral processing plant.. All rights reserved. REUTERS/Blair Gable/File Photo. The human rights group claims to have traced cobalt used in lithium batteries sold to 16 multinational brands to mines where young children and adults are being paid a dollar a day, working in. Kara, a fellow at Harvard's T.H. Slowly our dependance on fossil fuels is set to diminish and so ease global heating. At the so-called national lithium table, a high-level meeting of ministers and regional politicians, Argentina's President Mauricio Macri announced that 100,000 tons of lithium would be sourced in the Puna region over the next four years. In addition to these issues, the proposed expansion of nuclear power in the UK to satisfy demand no longer met by coal or gas plants is likely to lead to the creation of increased amounts of nuclear waste. Subscribe to Well Adjusted, our newsletter full of simple strategies to work smarter and live better, from the Fortune Well team. Bureau of International Labor Affairs (an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor), Over 70% of the worlds cobalt is extracted from mines in The Democratic Republic of Congo. I met people whose legs had been amputated, who had metal bars in where their legs used to be. He says that although the DRC has more cobalt reserves than the rest of the planet combined, there's no such thing as a "clean" supply chain of cobalt from the country. AymaraandQuechuapeoples comprise most of the Indigenous communities inthe Andes Mountains. "You have to imagine walking around some of these mining areas and dialing back our clock centuries," Kara says. Junior Kahhah/AFP via Getty Images hide caption. They also threaten to complicate its strategy in China, where a Shanghai factory manufactures vehicles for the worlds top EV market and also for export to Europe and elsewhere in Asia. For example, when asked by Amnesty International whether it sourced cobalt from CDM or Huayou Cobalt, Microsoft responded by saying: We have not traced the cobalt used through our supply chain to the smelter level due to the complexity and the resources required., These are some of the biggest companies in the world, with combined profits of $125 billion and there is no excuse that companies arent investing some of that profit into ensuring that they can trace where the minerals they are using are coming from, says Dummett. Oftentimes, digging in these larger open-air pits, there are pit wall collapses. Many privately wonder if this government sanctioned business is more an effort to control price and supply rather than curb human rights offenses. 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This is currently only guaranteed in large-scale industrial mining. Miners in the DRC pull up a bag of cobalt vital for the production of rechargeable batteries. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday suggested that China uses slave labor in the production of lithium as he discussed . Though EVsemit fewer greenhouse gasesthan fuel-powered vehicles, their batteriesrequire more mineralsespecially lithium, which is also used to make batteries for smartphones and computers. The first democratically elected president of the Congo [in 1960], Patrice Lumumba, made a pledge that the country's immense mineral riches and resources would be used for the benefit of the people who live there. The concept of raw materials can be traced to the theological notion of prime matter. The term originally comes from Aristotle, whose work was introduced to Christianity via Latin translations around the 12th century. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced because their villages were just bulldozed over to make place for large mining concessions. It's not chattel slavery from the 18th century where you can buy and trade people and own title over a person like property. One solution put forward to these green technology problems would be to limit the exploitation of resources on land and turn instead to the sea to gather the materials we need. These could be hoovered up using robot submersibles that would criss-cross the 4.5m sq km that make up the zone. Ties to Xinjiang-exposed suppliers are becoming more problematic for a swathe of industries. However, the UK still has no method for safely storing nuclear waste underground and relies on keeping highly radioactive remnants from power plant operations above ground. His new book called, Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives, exposes the toll taken on the people and the environment of the Democratic Republic of Congo by cobalt mining. Modern-day slavery in focus is supported by, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. We found that traders are buying cobalt without asking questions about how and where it was mined.. Digging for cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 60% of the worlds supply is found. Responding to the allegations, Huayou Cobalt told Amnesty International that our company has not been aware that any of our legitimate suppliers has hired child labour in their mining sites or operated in unsafe working conditions CDM has rigorously selected its ore suppliers to ensure the procurement of raw materials through legitimate channels. The DRC produces at least 50% of the worlds cobalt. Department said in a recent report. In the so-called Lithium Triangle of South America made up of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia vast quantities of water are pumped from underground sources to help extract lithium from ores, and this has been linked to the lowering of ground water levels and the spread of deserts. Justin Trudeau on Friday linked the production of lithium in their living wages, expecting security and safety standards." "Our research shows that lithium-ion batteries are produced with an input - cobalt - made by child labor," it said. In particular, direct lithium extraction demands a great deal offresh water, potentiallyendangering surrounding ecosystemsas has happened in other parts ofSouth Americas lithium triangle.. This notion was also used by Christian colonizers who were intent on destroying traditions that they saw as idolatrous. The report says that Huayou Cobalt sources more than 40% of its cobalt from the DRC and processes the raw mineral before selling it to battery makers, who claim to supply companies including Apple, Microsoft and Vodafone. Instead, it is seen as a group of beings with personhood, history and power beyond human reach. Cobalt is used in the manufacture of almost all lithium ion rechargeable batteries used in the world today. More than 60% of the world's supply of cobalt is mined in the "copper belt" of the south-eastern provinces of DRC. However the mining and processing of these materials often involve many labor and ethical malpractices, such as child labor and borderline slavery. What is the Stone of Destiny and why is it needed for the King's coronation? "Because we put forward environmental responsibility as something we actually expect to be abided by. But since colonial times, thelegacy of mineral abundancein Bolivia has also been one of pollution, poverty and exploitation. by child labor," it said. 2023 Fortune Media IP Limited. More children will be exploited and lives lost amid a surge for cobalt Credit: Corbis - Getty. The risks to the EV sector of inputs coming out of Xinjiang is huge, said Emily de La Bruyere, a co-founder of Horizon Advisory, a US-based consultancy focused on forced labour issues. He said that some of the company responses to Amnestys assertions were staggering. Since she sustains and secures the reproduction of life, Andean Indigenous people make offerings to the Pachamama inancestral ritualsknown aschallasthat seek to reinforce their connection with her. It is high time the big brands took some responsibility for the mining of the raw materials that make their lucrative products.. Chinese firms also own, operate or finance most of the Democratic Republic of Congo's cobalt mines, the U.S. Labor Department said in a recent report. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. I would spend 24 hours down in the tunnels. An artisanal miner holds a cobalt stone at the Shabara artisanal mine in the DRC. Elon Musks Tesla buys lithium from a Chinese company that is exploring for minerals in Xinjiang. Young mothers with babies strapped to their backs, all breathing in this toxic cobalt dust.". This puts the South American country ahead of Australia (2.7 million tons), Argentina (2 million tons) and China (1 million tons) (volkswagenag.com). Because we don't use slave labor," Trudeau said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. I arrived in the morning and would leave the following morning I had to relieve myself down in the tunnels My foster mother planned to send me to school, but my foster father was against it, he exploited me by making me work in the mine.. It's a war-torn, deeply impoverished nation that has been subjected to generations of pillage and ransacking going all the way back, now centuries, to the slave trade. international commerce and market rules. Canada has significant sources of lithium, Trudeau said, but China has made strategic choices over the decades that have made it by far the world's largest producer.