Cell phones and electric cars rely on the mineral, causing a boom
in demand. Locals are hunting for this buried treasure—but are getting
almost none of the profit.
These days, most of the cobalt in southern Congo comes from industrial
mines, which are largely owned by Chinese companies. In 2016, China
Molybdenum paid the U.S. company Freeport-McMoRan $2.65 billion for a
controlling stake in Tenke Fungurume, a giant copper-and-cobalt mine
about two hours east of Kolwezi; three years later, China Molybdenum
acquired another stake, for $1.14 billion. Zhou, who worked on the Tenke
Fungurume deal, divided the current Chinese involvement in Congo into
two phases. At first, he said, companies had to take significant
financial risks, because “there was a lack of infrastructure—the cost
base is high to transport all the materials.” They also had to pay
bribes to government officials and Gécamines executives. During this
phase, Chinese companies were incentivized to make money by whatever
means possible. “If you conduct your business without, you know, a
proper return, then you can’t justify the risk,” Zhou told me. During
this period, he said, mines had few safety protections.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/31/the-dark-side-of-congos-cobalt-rush
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