Artisanal Cobalt Mining in the DRC — The Human Cost

Scale of the ASM Sector

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a defining feature of the cobalt economy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. An estimated 150,000 to 250,000 individual miners — known locally as creuseurs — extract cobalt-bearing ore from surface-accessible deposits, abandoned mine workings, riverbanks, and hand-dug tunnels across the Haut-Katanga and Lualaba provinces. These miners work with rudimentary tools — picks, shovels, hammers, and bare hands — in conditions that bear no resemblance to the mechanised operations of industrial mining companies.

ASM cobalt accounts for an estimated 15 to 30 percent of the DRC's total cobalt output, depending on the year, cobalt price levels, and the degree of enforcement of mining regulations. At its peak in 2017-2018, when cobalt prices exceeded $90,000 per tonne, ASM production surged as tens of thousands of additional miners entered the sector, drawn by the prospect of incomes far exceeding alternatives available in the region. When prices collapsed, some miners left, but the sector retained a large workforce because for many participants, artisanal mining represents the only viable livelihood in an economy with few formal employment opportunities.

The ASM sector's scale makes it economically and socially significant. In the mining towns of Kolwezi, Likasi, Kipushi, and surrounding areas, artisanal mining supports not just the miners themselves but extended families, local traders, transport operators, and service providers. The sector generates an informal economy worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually. An estimated 1 to 2 million people depend directly or indirectly on artisanal cobalt mining for their livelihoods. Any effort to reform, regulate, or eliminate ASM must contend with this economic reality.

The ASM Supply Chain

Artisanally mined cobalt follows a distinctive supply chain. Miners extract ore and carry it — often on their backs or on bicycles — to depots operated by intermediaries known as negociants. The negociants purchase ore, often at a fraction of its market value, and aggregate it for sale to larger buyers. These buyers may be depots operated by Chinese traders (who dominate the ASM cobalt purchasing market), cooperatives registered with the DRC mining authorities, or processing facilities that convert raw ore into cobalt hydroxide or other intermediate products. The ore ultimately enters the same export channels as industrial cobalt, with the majority shipped to Chinese refineries for processing into battery-grade chemicals.

Huayou Cobalt's subsidiary Congo Dongfang Mining (CDM) was historically the largest single buyer of ASM cobalt in the DRC, operating a network of purchasing depots across the mining regions. Under intense international scrutiny over child labour and working conditions in its supply chain, Huayou has restructured its ASM purchasing operations and invested in traceability and formalisation initiatives. However, numerous smaller Chinese and Congolese traders continue to operate in the ASM cobalt market with varying degrees of transparency and accountability.

The Human Cost — Labour and Safety

The human cost of artisanal cobalt mining is severe and well-documented. The sector's fatality rate is unknown with precision — artisanal mining deaths are rarely officially recorded — but investigative reports, NGO studies, and academic research consistently describe a pattern of frequent, preventable deaths and injuries.

Tunnel Collapses

The most lethal hazard is the collapse of hand-dug tunnels and pits. Artisanal miners excavate shafts and horizontal tunnels without engineering support, timber shoring, or ventilation systems. The soils and weathered rock in cobalt-bearing areas are often unstable, and collapses can occur without warning. When a tunnel collapses, miners underground are buried alive. Rescue is rarely possible with the tools available, and survivors frequently suffer crushing injuries. Multiple-fatality collapse events are reported regularly in the mining regions, though the total death toll is impossible to quantify because most incidents go unrecorded in official statistics.

Toxic Exposure

Artisanal miners are exposed to cobalt-bearing dust and, in some areas, to uranium and other radioactive elements that co-occur with cobalt in DRC ore bodies. Cobalt dust inhalation is associated with a condition known as hard metal lung disease, which causes pulmonary fibrosis and impaired lung function. Studies of residents in mining communities have found elevated levels of cobalt, uranium, and other heavy metals in blood and urine samples, as well as elevated rates of birth defects and respiratory illness. The health impacts extend beyond miners to their families and communities, as mining dust contaminates soil, water, and food sources.

Physical Toll

The physical demands of artisanal mining are extreme. Miners carry heavy loads of ore on their backs or heads, descend into unstable shafts, and work in cramped, poorly ventilated spaces for extended periods. Musculoskeletal injuries, hernias, and chronic pain are widespread. Access to healthcare in mining communities is limited, and injured miners often continue working because they have no alternative source of income and no access to social protection or workers' compensation.

Exploitation and Coercion

The economic structure of ASM cobalt mining creates conditions for exploitation. Miners frequently operate on concessions controlled by local power brokers, military officers, or political figures who extract rents in exchange for access. Debt relationships between miners and ore buyers can trap miners in cycles of economic dependence. Women and girls in mining communities face elevated risks of sexual exploitation and gender-based violence. The informal and unregulated nature of the sector means that legal protections, where they exist on paper, are rarely enforced.

Child Labour in Cobalt Mining

Child labour in artisanal cobalt mining has become one of the most prominent ethical issues in global supply chain governance. Investigations by organisations including Amnesty International, the International Labour Organization, and UNICEF have documented the presence of children — some as young as seven years old — working at artisanal cobalt mining sites in the DRC. These children perform tasks including sorting and washing ore, transporting bags of cobalt-bearing rock, and in some cases entering underground tunnels.

Estimates of the number of children involved in artisanal cobalt mining vary widely. UNICEF has cited figures of approximately 40,000 children working in mining in the DRC's southern provinces, though not all of these are in cobalt specifically. Other estimates are lower or higher depending on methodology and the definition of child labour applied. What is not disputed is that children are present at mining sites and that their labour contributes to the cobalt supply chain.

The drivers of child labour in cobalt mining are rooted in poverty. The DRC is one of the world's least developed countries, with limited access to education, healthcare, and formal employment. In mining communities, families depend on every available source of income, and children's earnings — even the small amounts they receive for sorting or carrying ore — contribute to household survival. Addressing child labour requires not just enforcement of prohibitions but investment in education, social protection, and alternative livelihoods that provide families with viable economic alternatives.

Corporate and Consumer Accountability

The documentation of child labour in cobalt mining has triggered a wave of corporate accountability actions. Major technology companies — Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, and Dell — have implemented supplier codes of conduct that prohibit the use of child labour and require supply chain traceability to the mine level. Automotive companies — BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and others — have established responsible sourcing programmes for battery minerals. These efforts have been partially effective: some of the most visible child labour sites have been closed or formalised, and the largest industrial producers have tightened their purchasing policies.

However, the challenge of eliminating child labour from a dispersed, informal sector with hundreds of thousands of participants and limited state enforcement capacity remains formidable. Supply chain traceability in the ASM sector is imperfect, and the economic incentives that drive child labour persist. The risk of child-produced cobalt entering legitimate supply chains — through mixing at depots, fraudulent documentation, or simple lack of oversight — cannot be fully eliminated under current conditions.

Formalization Efforts and EGC

The most significant institutional response to the challenges of artisanal cobalt mining has been the creation of the Entreprise Generale du Cobalt (EGC), established by the DRC government in 2019. EGC was conceived as a state-owned monopoly buyer of all artisanally produced cobalt, designed to formalise the ASM supply chain by creating a single, regulated purchasing channel through which all ASM cobalt would flow.

EGC's Mandate

EGC's stated objectives include eliminating child labour from the ASM cobalt supply chain, ensuring fair prices for artisanal miners, implementing traceability from mine site to export, and channelling ASM cobalt production into formally regulated markets. By interposing itself between miners and the informal trading networks that previously dominated ASM purchasing, EGC aims to create transparency and accountability in a sector characterised by opacity and exploitation.

Implementation Challenges

EGC's implementation has been slow and contested. The organisation faces enormous operational challenges: building purchasing infrastructure across a vast and remote mining region, establishing traceability systems for tens of thousands of individual miners, competing with established Chinese and informal trading networks that offer immediate cash payments, and overcoming distrust from miners who view the state monopoly with suspicion. EGC's relationship with Trafigura, the Swiss commodity trader that signed a purchasing agreement to buy EGC's cobalt output, has also drawn scrutiny over pricing transparency and the distribution of benefits.

Critics argue that EGC risks replacing one set of intermediaries with another without fundamentally improving conditions for miners. Supporters contend that formalisation — however imperfect — is a necessary first step toward accountability and that EGC provides a framework for progressive improvement. The truth likely lies between these positions: EGC is an imperfect but potentially useful tool whose effectiveness will depend on governance, financing, and the political will to enforce its mandate against powerful vested interests.

Alternative Formalization Models

Alongside EGC, several other formalization initiatives operate in the DRC's ASM cobalt sector. The Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA), supported by companies including Glencore, Tesla, and Umicore, works to improve conditions at specific artisanal mining sites by providing safety training, protective equipment, and community services. The Cobalt Institute's Cobalt Industry Responsible Assessment Framework (CIRAF) provides tools for companies to assess and manage cobalt supply chain risks. Individual companies, notably Huayou Cobalt, have invested in model mine sites that aim to demonstrate that ASM can operate safely and without child labour when properly managed and resourced.

These efforts collectively represent significant investment and good intentions. But they operate at a scale that is small relative to the overall ASM sector, and they function within a broader context of weak governance, widespread poverty, and powerful informal economic structures that resist formalisation. The gap between pilot projects and sector-wide transformation remains wide.

Western Due Diligence Requirements

The regulatory landscape for cobalt supply chain due diligence has evolved rapidly in response to the documentation of human rights abuses in DRC artisanal mining. Companies operating in Western markets face a growing web of legal obligations, voluntary standards, and stakeholder expectations that require them to investigate, disclose, and address risks in their cobalt supply chains.

Legal Status

Cobalt is not covered as a 3TG conflict mineral under the main US and EU conflict-minerals regimes. That does not make artisanal cobalt a low-risk supply chain. It means the legal basis for scrutiny is different: OECD-style mineral due diligence, battery-market requirements, customer standards, lender safeguards, and broader human-rights expectations rather than a direct 3TG filing trigger.

OECD Due Diligence Guidance

The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas provides the foundational framework for mineral supply chain due diligence. Originally developed for conflict minerals (tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold), the guidance has been extended to apply to all minerals from conflict-affected areas, including cobalt from the DRC. The OECD framework requires companies to adopt a management system for supply chain due diligence, identify and assess risks, design and implement a strategy to respond to identified risks, carry out independent third-party audits, and report on due diligence annually.

EU Regulatory Framework

The European Union has implemented several regulatory instruments relevant to cobalt due diligence. The EU Conflict Minerals Regulation, which entered into force in 2021, requires EU importers of tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold to conduct supply chain due diligence — though cobalt is not directly covered by this regulation. The EU Battery Regulation, adopted in 2023, is more directly applicable: it requires that batteries placed on the EU market be accompanied by supply chain due diligence documentation, including for cobalt. The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), adopted in 2024, establishes broader obligations for large companies to identify, prevent, and mitigate adverse human rights and environmental impacts in their supply chains.

US Regulatory Framework

In the United States, the Dodd-Frank Act's Section 1502 established disclosure requirements for conflict minerals but does not directly cover cobalt. However, growing pressure from Congress, investors, and civil society has led to legislative proposals that would extend conflict mineral-style reporting requirements to cobalt and other battery minerals. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires disclosure of material supply chain risks, and ESG-focused investors increasingly demand detailed cobalt sourcing information from portfolio companies.

Industry Standards

Multiple industry standards and certification schemes address cobalt supply chain responsibility. The Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), whose members include most major technology companies, operates the Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (RMAP) that audits smelters and refiners for conformance with responsible sourcing standards. The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) provides a comprehensive assessment framework for mine-level practices. The London Metal Exchange (LME) has implemented responsible sourcing requirements for brands listed on its platform, including cobalt brands.

Corridor Relevance

The Lobito Corridor could improve artisanal cobalt governance if it is tied to formal purchasing, documented custody, and buyer willingness to pay for traceable material. It could also amplify risk if faster logistics simply move mixed or weakly documented cobalt to market. EGC-linked shipments therefore matter less as symbolic first cargo and more as a test of whether formalisation can produce verifiable mine-to-export records.

What to Monitor

Monitor whether ASM formalisation produces safer sites, fairer pricing, exclusion of child labour, transparent purchasing, independent grievance channels, and auditable export documentation. The strongest evidence will come from repeated shipments with consistent records, not from one-off announcements or broad certification language.

The Path Forward

Addressing the human cost of artisanal cobalt mining requires a response that operates simultaneously on multiple levels: regulatory enforcement, supply chain governance, economic development, and structural investment in the communities where mining occurs.

Harm Reduction, Not Prohibition

The most effective approaches to ASM cobalt reform recognise that prohibition is neither realistic nor desirable. Artisanal mining provides livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of people in one of the world's poorest regions. Attempts to eliminate ASM would push miners into even more dangerous and exploitative informal arrangements. The realistic goal is harm reduction: making ASM safer, eliminating child labour, ensuring fair compensation, and bringing the sector within a regulatory framework that provides accountability and continuous improvement.

Investment in Alternatives

Reducing dependency on artisanal mining requires investment in alternative economic opportunities in mining communities. This means education (including vocational training), agriculture, small enterprise development, and — where possible — formal employment in the growing industrial mining sector. The Lobito Corridor development programme, with its emphasis on economic development along the corridor route, has the potential to create employment and business opportunities that provide alternatives to artisanal mining for some communities.

Technology and Traceability

Technological solutions — digital traceability platforms, digital tagging of ore bags, satellite monitoring of mining sites, and AI-powered supply chain mapping — offer tools for improving transparency in the ASM cobalt supply chain. Several pilot projects have demonstrated that mine-to-market traceability is technically feasible. The challenge is scaling these solutions to cover the entirety of a dispersed, informal sector and ensuring that traceability translates into genuine improvements in conditions rather than merely producing compliant documentation.

Consumer and Investor Pressure

Consumer awareness of cobalt supply chain issues, while still limited, has grown significantly since the publication of major investigative reports in 2016-2017. Investor pressure through ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) frameworks has been a more consistent driver of corporate action. As battery demand grows and cobalt supply chains attract greater scrutiny, the commercial incentive for companies to demonstrate responsible sourcing will intensify. This creates a market mechanism that, while imperfect, channels resources toward supply chain improvement and creates reputational consequences for companies that fail to act.

The human cost of artisanal cobalt mining is a defining ethical challenge of the energy transition. Every electric vehicle, every smartphone, and every laptop battery carries a connection — however indirect — to the miners of the DRC's Copperbelt. Addressing this challenge requires sustained commitment from governments, corporations, civil society, and consumers. The stakes are measured not in tonnes or dollars but in human lives and dignity.