In excess of 40,000 children are working in hazardous conditions in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Now, cobalt, used to maximize the life of lithium batteries, is making people rich. Is there any reason profits from Cobalt shouldn't be shared with the workers -- and any reason those workers shouldn't be their parents instead of the children themselves?
Two dollars a day -- that's the going pay for this work. Could we up it to $15 an hour? That would cut into the profits of the top 1 percent, who in this case, are primarily Chinese. Chinese companies own or finance 80 percent of the cobalt mines in the Congo.
Hunter Biden haters are likely aware that an investment firm co-founded by him helped a Chinese conglomerate get control of a large mine in the Congo. And Joe Biden? Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced an agreement with Zambia and the Congo that opens the door to more financing of the cobalt mining projects.
Almost 50 percent of the world's cobalt reserves are in the Congo. They go into lithium batteries used for cell phones and electric vehicles. Tesla? Yes, their cars rely on cobalt from the Congo.
Complicid might not be the right word, or is it? Complicit means being involved with others in an illegal activity or wrongdoing. So, are you complicit in the child labor abuses in the the Congo? -- Unknowingly complicit, but yes, if you own a smartphone, you probably are reliant on cobalt mined using child labor in the Congo.
Elon Musk and Tesla -- along with every EV maker in the world that utilizes Congolese cobalt -- should be telling the cobalt companies they are going to stop buying if those companies do not drastically improve working conditions and pay in the mines. Tesla did announce in April that it is moving away from cobalt. Perhaps an even better approach would be to get better pay and working conditions for the Congolese laborers.
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