“Amnesty is extremely concerned about the impact that mining for electric car batteries is going to have on communities around the world it has the potential to be devastating if the brands at the top don’t use their leverage to demand that these new global supply chains are set up in a way that respect human and environmental rights.”Ĭhinese mining companies point to the contributions they make to DRC’s revenues and local communities, while working in a challenging environment. “The issue is that many of the Chinese mining companies are refusing to be transparent about their operations, but the human rights issues related to cobalt mining in the DRC did not arrive with the Chinese: the DRC has a long history of foreign players coming to the country and exploiting their resources with little accountability,” says Mark Dummett, programme director at Amnesty International. Yet Amnesty International, which has conducted investigations into human rights abuses in the informal mining sector in the DRC, says the nationality of the companies dominating the EV market is not their primary concern. “It’s the same as during the colonial times but now we’re under the Chinese,” says another worker. Workers at Sicomines claim they are paid less than Chinese workers who do the same jobs, and are subjected to degrading treatment by Chinese supervisors.
Tesla’s Shanghai super factory now produces more cars than its California plant. The Chinese are there as the boss to control Congolese,” says a worker employed at Sicomines, a mine majority-owned by a Chinese consortium, which includes Huayou Cobalt. That followed its purchase of a 95% stake in nearby Kisanfu copper and cobalt mine for $550m.įellow Chinese corporate giant, Huayou Cobalt owns or has a stake in at least three copper-cobalt mines in DRC and is a key player at every step of the cobalt supply chain, from mines to refineries to battery precursor and cathode production.īut China’s dominance of DRC’s copper-cobalt mines comes at a price, according to claims by Congolese workers employed at them. In August, China Molybdenum Company (CMOC), a giant Chinese mining firm, announced an investment of $2.5bn (£1.8bn) to double copper and cobalt production at its Tenke Fungurume Mine, already one of the largest in DRC. Even for a small fault, you’re punished a worker at Sicomines, DRC
Most of that cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where almost 70% of the mining sector is dominated by Chinese companies.ĭrive through DRC’s southern copper and cobalt mining belt, and signs in Chinese are everywhere: at the entrance to casinos and hotels and on trucks and business premises. And cobalt specialist suppliers Darton Commodities estimate that Chinese refineries supplied 85% of the world’s battery-ready cobalt last year a mineral that helps to improve the stability of lithium-ion batteries. Chinese battery-maker CATL controls about 30% of the world’s EV battery market. And in what has been dubbed, the “ battery arms race”, China is in pole position.Ĭhina is the world’s biggest market for EVs with total sales of 1.3m vehicles last year, more than 40% of sales worldwide.
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