AfricaBusinessChild LaborChild RightsFeaturesGlobal IssuesHuman RightsHumanitySocietyTechnologyWorldYoung Generation
Children mining cobalt in slave-like conditions as global demand for battery material surges
- If you have not spared a thought for cobalt since high school science, then it might be time.
It is having a boom, and the modern world is increasingly reliant on it — using it to stabilise batteries in phones, computers and electric cars; in fact, it is probably in the device you are using right now.
- The Signal – By Angela Lavoipierre, Stephen Smiley and Lin Evlin
- ABC
But there is a catch.
Cobalt is mined in a string of countries around the world including Australia, but most of the world’s supply comes from just one country in Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — a nation with a long record of poorly-enforced labour standards and child exploitation.
And because cobalt…