Cobalt as Conflict Mineral: Analysis
Cobalt (Co) {atomic number 27} has been used since times immemorial to give beautiful blue colour to wide variety of items. It was used in coloured jewellery, utensils and sculptures as back as third millennium BC. Since Bronze age, Cobalt is being used in coloured glass. Oldest cobalt coloured glass belongs to ancient Egyptian civilization.
Distribution of Cobalt
In Earth’s crust, cobalt is found as chemically bound only. It is produced as free element by reductive smelting. It appears as hard, lustrous silver grey element. Its main mineral is cobaltite made of Cobalt, Arsenic and Sulphur (CoAsS). Most of the Cobalt of the world is produced in Africa, particularly in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR) and Zambia. DRC is world’s top cobalt producer.
Fact Box: Various Applications of Cobalt
The primary use of Cobalt is in preparation of magnetic, wear-resistant and high-strength alloys. Its compounds are generally used in production of coloured glass, electronics, ceramics, ink, paints and varnishes. Its radioactive isotope Cobalt-60 is used as a radioactive tracer and in production of high energy gamma rays, used in radiotherapy.
Cobalt is also very useful in biology. It is the active centre of several coenzymes called cobalamins such as Vitamin B12. It is a trace dietary mineral for animals and a trace nutrient for plants, bacteria, fungi and algae. Most important industrial use of Cobalt is in mobile phone and laptop batteries accounting for a quarter of world’s total cobalt consumption. Cobalt is also needed in the production of magnets, speakers, headphones and media coatings for hard disc drives.
Cobalt Mining in Africa
With 63,000 metric tonnes production in 2015, DRC is world’s largest producer of Cobalt. Next few cobalt producer countries are China, Canada, Russia, Zambia etc.
DRC is an important source of cobalt accounting for around 50% of global supply and almost 50% of known global cobalt reserves.
Is Cobalt a Conflict Mineral?
The US Dodd-Frank act defines only gold, wolframite, casserite, columbite-tantalite (coltan) and their derivative metals, which include tin, tungsten and tantalum among the conflict minerals. Thus, Cobalt is not among the conflict minerals. However, in recent years, many humanitarian agencies have been lobbying towards making Cobalt next conflict mineral on the ground that Cobalt sourced from DRC is produced by mines that rely on child labour. A latest report in this series was published in January 2016 by Amnesty International and African Resources Watch. This report said that The Chinese companies that buy cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo and supply mobile phone and laptop makers such as Apple and Samsung Electronics aren’t fully checking their suppliers and may be acquiring the mineral from mines that rely on child labour.
The Amnesty report said that it has traced the supply chain of the Cobalt produced in artisanal mines in Katanga by child labour and then procured by Chinese Companies selling cobalt (such as Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt) to battery production facilities in China, Japan and South Korea, from where batteries were produced for multinational technology and auto companies including Apple, Samsung, Sony, Volkswagen and so on. The report finally came with recommendations to make increased supply chain transparency.
The question arises – Should Cobalt be dealt as a conflict mineral?
There are certain things which must be considered. If we look at distribution of cobalt in DRC itself, we find that most of the mining activities of Cobalt takes place in Southern province of Katanga in DRC. In DRC, Katanga has been a long established copper and cobalt mining region geologically extending to Zambia. This region has been involved in commercial metals mining since the 1930s’ and is quite distinct from the conflict ridden provinces of Eastern Congo {North and South Kivu}.
Further, the cobalt mining in Katanga is not alleged for financing weapons and violence. However, Amnesty Report argues that even if Cobalt is produced in the conflict-free regions, its production and trade is not fair. It is believed that a majority of cobalt production is done by artisanal mining {mining by hands} in the tunnel mines 30 meter underground. So, the firms must note procure that Cobalt for the sake of human rights.
We note here that there are around 50,000 to 100,000 artisanal cobalt miners in Katanga and around 3 to 4 lakh people dependent on these miners. There is not doubt that the points raised by Amnesty are valid and there should be transparency in dealings. However, it should also be appreciated that cobalt is a critical raw material and a technology-enabling metal essential to sustainable global development. While there should be greater traceability of minerals sourced from conflict regions, cobalt is not a conflict mineral and should be labelled as such.
