After today’s news that some end users of cobalt have been served with a US lawsuit, it is important to remember the salient points of cobalt in relation to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Here, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence outlines the facts and our opinion of the situation:
> The vast majority of DRC cobalt does not come from artisanal sources (>80%)
> 75% of cobalt produced in 2019 will be produced in the DRC
> The total cobalt market in 2019 will be 138,000 tonnes
> Benchmark Mineral Intelligence estimates that <10% of mined cobalt is artisanal material
> However, artisanal does not necessary mean illegal: only a fraction of artisanal cobalt is illegally extracted material or linked to human rights abuses
> As a result, cobalt can be artisanal, legal and safely mined
> Artisanal labour is an important regional source of income to the DRC population on the extreme end of the poverty line
> It is key for the supply chain to engage with workers to turn illegal and dangerous operations into a safe source of material; there are a number of initiatives already in place that do this
> DRC mining concessions are vast and they include roads and, in some cases, entire villages; as a company operating there, it is understood that you have no legal right to remove people from your concession
> Such is the country’s dominance, without DRC cobalt there will be no electric vehicle industry