Many prefer to operate on industrial concessions where there are large, identified deposits, even though this can lead to a showdown with powerful multibillion-dollar corporations. Under Congolese law, artisanal diggers are only allowed to work in government-designated zones and as part of approved cooperatives.īut most diggers say the designated areas are unviable. “It’s the Wild West of mining,” said one industry analyst. ‘The Wild West of mining’Īccording to market specialist Darton Commodities, the DRC last year produced 72 percent of the world’s cobalt, a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries in electric cars and mobile phones.īut the sector’s image is tarnished by artisanal mining, where accusations of child labour, dangerous working conditions, and corruption are rampant. “We’re fighting to be left in peace,” he said. Marcel Kabamba, age 31, taking a break amid the sounds of clanging and the shouts of his fellow diggers, said he could make the equivalent of $200 on a good week – a small fortune in a country where most live on under $2 a day. Mining operations have been ongoing for years here in flagrant violation of the DRC’s laws and in defiance of the site’s owner, a subsidiary of mining and commodities giant Glencore.Īs the diggers gouge at blue-tinged soil, hundreds of dust-covered porters trudge up a ramp leading out of the pit, their backs bent under the weight of sacks of ore. In this scene of almost Biblical toil, the prize is cobalt – a strategic metal found in abundance in the central African nation.īut the huge pit in Shabara, about 45 kilometres (30 miles) from Kolwezi, is also a big headache.Ībout 20,000 people work at the mine, in shifts of 5,000 at a time. At the bottom of a crater in southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, 5,000 diggers pack tightly together, swinging hammers and picks to prise chunks of speckled blue-gold ore from the earth.
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