Emmanuel Umpula
A new report released on March 27 reveals that toxic pollution from industrial cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) devastates humans and the environment.
These conclusions call into question the idea of ”clean” and “sustainable” cobalt, which is frequently defended by mining multinationals.
Cobalt is a critical raw material in rechargeable electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy technologies. It comes mainly from the copper-cobalt belt of the southern DRC.
The ground-breaking 110-page report, “Beneath the Green: A Critical Look at the Cost of Industrial Cobalt Mining in the DRC”, is a significant milestone. It is one of the first comprehensive studies of the environmental impacts of industrial cobalt mining on the human rights of hundreds of thousands of Congolese living in and around Kolwezi, the heart of the DRC’s cobalt industry.
The report, authored by UK business watchdog RAID and DRC-based organization AFREWATCH, focuses on the impacts of water pollution.
It reveals that the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is routinely violated for communities living in the shadow of the world’s largest cobalt and copper mines.
Communities visited by RAID and AFREWATCH said toxic contamination harms their health and has destructive consequences on local ecosystems and agriculture.
Local residents said there is not enough clean water for drinking, let alone washing and personal hygiene, forcing them to use contaminated water for their daily needs.
A staggering number of respondents (56%) say pollution affects the gynaecological and reproductive health of women and girls, leading to irregular menstruation, urogenital infections, more frequent miscarriages and, in some cases, congenital disabilities.
More and more young girls and adolescents are also affected.
Residents also reported that they regularly suffer from skin diseases and are particularly worried about the health of their children, who appear to be more seriously affected. Almost everyone (99%) said crop and field yields are significantly reduced due to water contamination, substantially impacting people’s income.
Additionally, 59% of respondents said they had reduced their food consumption to just one meal a day, 59% had taken their children out of school due to lack of funds, and 75% said they could no longer afford to eat or provide health care or medication.
All those interviewed attribute the decline in their standard of living to the recent boom in cobalt mining.
The investigation took 19 months and involved fieldwork in 25 villages and towns near five of the world’s most significant cobalt and copper mines, operated by European and Chinese mining companies. It resulted in in-depth interviews with 144 residents, providing a rare insight into the experiences of local communities. RAID and AFREWATCH also interviewed medical experts and scientists, scrutinized scientific studies and reviewed hundreds of company documents.
According to RAID and AFREWATCH, the study results show that the DRC’s cobalt and copper mining region appears to be transforming into a “sacrifice zone”, which UN experts describe as areas where people suffer from serious health problems and human rights violations because they live in heavily contaminated areas.
Scientific results confirm the accounts of local communities, with at least 22 scientific studies demonstrating that mining activities seriously pollute the region’s rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands. Company reports and assessments, analyzed by RAID and AFREWATCH, also clearly identify the environmental risks and potential impacts on human health resulting from the industrial exploitation of cobalt.
In addition, RAID and AFREWATCH commissioned the Department of Toxicology and Environment at the University of Lubumbashi for new research into bodies of water that local communities say are contaminated.
According to scientists, preliminary results of analyses carried out in March 2024 show that the five water bodies assessed are all affected by acidified industrial pollution. The Katapula and Kalenge rivers were classified as “hyper-acidic”, while the Dipeta and Dilala rivers were “highly acidic”.
According to scientists, these four rivers cannot support fish, and their water is toxic to human and animal health.
In public documents, correspondence and meetings with RAID and AFREWATCH, the companies studied highlighted the measures they are taking to reduce the risk of contamination. However, no company wanted to provide evidence confirming the effectiveness of its practices. The companies said historic pollution from old mines, contamination from artisanal mining and other activities were primarily to blame
However, RAID and AFREWATCH found that at least 14 significant incidents of toxic environmental pollution from the five mines had been reported in recent years, including tailings dam breaches and sulfuric acid spills. Local communities said they felt the cleanup of these spills had been inadequate and that, in many cases, the effects of the pollution persisted.
A resident of the fence interviewed by RAID and AFREWATCH said, “We live in an environment that brings us more problems than solutions. We are getting sick, our soil and water are polluted, and our land is being confiscated.”
Another resident said: “We are the big losers in this crisis: “We are the big losers in mining. In my 53 years of life, I have seen a lot of changes. These companies only came to enrich themselves and bring us death.”
Mining companies recognize that the chronic lack of clean water concerns residents and have constructed boreholes to help alleviate the problem.
Yet RAID and AFREWATCH found that none of these companies met the minimum standards for drinking water set by DRC regulations and that all were well below the minimum quantity set by the World Water Organization: WHO, namely 20 litres per person per day for drinking and hygiene.
According to RAID and AFREWATCH, mining companies’ inability to provide even minimal drinking water contrasts sharply with the profits made from mining activities.
The investigation also highlights the Congolese government’s inability to enforce environmental protections despite the DRC’s rigorous ecological laws. National regulatory agencies, hamstrung by a lack of resources and expertise, struggle to hold mining companies accountable, allowing water pollution to persist almost unchecked.
The mines covered in this study supply cobalt to the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturers, including Tesla, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BYD, and General Motors. RAID and AFREWATCH have called on electric vehicle manufacturers and others in the supply chain to pressure mining companies to supply clean and sustainable cobalt.
“The world needs Congolese cobalt to achieve “net zero” goals, but the energy transition does not benefit the hundreds of thousands of Congolese who live in the shadow of large industrial cobalt mines. They do not drive electric vehicles or benefit from a healthy environment. On the contrary, they are victims of water pollution, making them sicker and poorer. We all need a sustainable future, but this must apply to people in the North and those in the DRC.”
*Emmanuel Umpula is the AFREWATCH Executive Director
