I mean, imagine you're in a part of the world where there are millions of people who barely get a dollar or two a day who are grindingly poor and will accept almost any labor arrangement just to survive. Imagine a mountain of gravel and stone just avalanching down on people, crushing legs and arms, spines. More than 60% of the world's supply of cobalt is mined in the "copper belt" of the south-eastern provinces of DRC. Volkswagen has also faced pressure over a production facility in Urumqi, prompting chief executive Herbert Diess to argue the car makers presence in Xinjiang can be a force for good. AymaraandQuechuapeoples comprise most of the Indigenous communities inthe Andes Mountains. This notion was also used by Christian colonizers who were intent on destroying traditions that they saw as idolatrous. The Student Newspaper of Westminster Christian Academy. With Chile producing 8 million tons of lithium, that means they used 17.6 trillion liters of water. Lithium mining, which is primarily done in South America, is often associated with poor working conditions and low wages for workers. The . (Reporting by Doina Chiacu, additional reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Sharon Singleton and Jonathan Oatis). For this they receive just ten cents per day and are constantly threatened with violence. It goes back to the year 2009 under the previous president in the Congo, Joseph Kabila. Similarly in Tibet, a toxic chemical leak from the Ganzizhou Rongda Lithium mine poisoned the local Lichu river in 2016 and triggered widespread protests in the region. Millions of trees have been cut down, the air around mines is hazy with dust and grit, and the water has been contaminated with toxic effluents from the mining processing. And the reason is, it's a penny-wage way to boost production. It is high time the big brands took some responsibility for the mining of the raw materials that make their lucrative products.. There are probably 10,000 to 15,000 tunnels that are dug by hand by artisanal miners. In its response to Amnestys allegations, which Amnesty has published in full alongside responses from the other named companies, Apple said it was currently evaluating whether cobalt in the companys products originated in the DRC. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Many privately wonder if this government sanctioned business is more an effort to control price and supply rather than curb human rights offenses. They also threaten to complicate its strategy in China, where a Shanghai factory manufactures vehicles for the worlds top EV market and also for export to Europe and elsewhere in Asia. "Because we put forward environmental responsibility as something we actually expect to be abided by. In the case of cobalt, 60% of the worlds supply comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo where large numbers of unregulated mines use children as young as seven as miners. Imagine an entire population of people who cannot survive without scrounging in hazardous conditions for a dollar or two a day. Siddharth Kara's previous book Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery, won the 2010 Frederick Douglass Book Prize, awarded for the best book written in English on slavery or abolition. Similarly, highland groups recognize mountains not as a set of inert rocks, but as ancestral guardians calledAchachilas in AymaraandApus in Quechua. This is currently only guaranteed in large-scale industrial mining. Elon Musks Tesla buys lithium from a Chinese company that is exploring for minerals in Xinjiang. In November, Canada ordered three Chinese companies to divest from Canadian critical minerals, citing national security. One of the largest mineral processors in the country is Huayou Cobalt subsidiary CDM. China in response accused Ottawa of using national The ethical issues come from the artisanal mines, where one can find thousands of people, including children, mining for cobalt. In fact, the history of these competing notions is deeply entwined with the history of the colonial era, as different culturescame into violent conflict. And not just that, they dominate the chain all the way through to the battery level. REUTERS/Blair Gable/File Photo. A Volkswagen ID.3, part of the companys efforts to break into the burgeoning electric car market. Trudeau Points to 'Slave Labor' in China Lithium Production, FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada April 26, 2023. He said Canada hadsignificant sources of lithium, but China hadmade strategic choices over decades that hadmade it by far the world's largest producer. The Chinese deal representsa new milestone, yetits outcomes are still uncertain: for the economy, for local communities and for the Earth. Here's why. I arrived in the morning and would leave the following morning. 2023 Fortune Media IP Limited. "If we're honest the lithium produced in Canada is going to be more expensive. hide caption. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has linked the production of lithium in China to slave labourand denouncedthe rise of authoritarianism around the world,calling on democracies to live up to their ideals through trade and foreign policy. It places all of Chinas battery production at risk of violating US law and global norms around human rights, and that risk is only going to grow as China continues to build up EV-relevant industries in Xinjiang.. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions. Since she sustains and secures the reproduction of life, Andean Indigenous people make offerings to the Pachamama inancestral ritualsknown aschallasthat seek to reinforce their connection with her. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced because their villages were just bulldozed over to make place for large mining concessions. According to the government agency charged with oversight of the informal or. These three battery component manufacturers bought more than US$90 million worth of cobalt from Huayou Cobalt in 2013. Governments must put an end to this lack of transparency, which allows companies to profit from misery.. Junior Kannah /AFP via Getty Images China to "slave labor" as he discussed his own country's efforts In Xinjiang, the resource is at an early stage of exploration and its currently uncertain whether theres suitable projects available for future development, Ganfeng said. With regards to Tesla, I dont foresee any problems.. Paul, a 14-year-old orphan, started mining at the age of 12. The abuses in mines remain out of sight and out of mind because in todays global marketplace consumers have no idea about the conditions at the mine, factory, and assembly line. Nor will these ecological problems be confined to specialist metals, analysts have pointed out. Children told Amnesty International they worked for up to 12 hours a day in the mines, carrying heavy loads to earn between one and two dollars a day. ", Some 20,000 people work at Shabara artisanal mine in the DRC, in shifts of 5,000 at a time. Big brands have the power to change this.. supply chain problems. AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), abc.net.au/news/trudeau-accuses-china-of-using-slave-labour-to-produce-lithium/102282690, Get breaking news alerts directly to your phone with our app, Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article, This man advises his clients that elections, rates and mortgages are invalid, Vaping crackdown to include ban on non-prescription imports, Texas gunman on the run. The mines have taken over everything. supply chains," Trudeau said. China in response accused Ottawa of using national security as a pretext and said the divestment order broke international commerce and market rules. More than half the worlds supply of cobalt comes from the DRC, with 20% of cobalt exported coming from artisanal mines in the southern part of the country. In their eyes, reverence toward a mountain or the earth itself was worshiping a mere thing, a false god. In Chile, for example, where the majority of the worlds lithium is extracted, many workers are paid as little as $1 per hour and are not provided with adequate safety equipment. "As like-minded democracies, as major economies, we need to work together to meet this moment.". This is because removing these raw materials can result in soil degradation, water shortages, biodiversity loss, damage to ecosystem functions and an increase in global warming (. The DRC produces at least 50% of the worlds cobalt. Cutting battery industry's reliance on cobalt will be an uphill task, Howthe race for cobalt risks turning it from miracle metal to deadly chemical, Apple and Google named in US lawsuit over Congolese child cobalt mining deaths, Isaw the unbearable grief inflicted on families by cobalt mining. The organizations are also calling on China to require Chinese extractive companies operating overseas to investigate their supply chains and address human rights abuses in their operations. We found that traders are buying cobalt without asking questions about how and where it was mined.. Well, you put them in a tight pit, cram them with 10,000 other people and pay them a couple of dollars, and they'll produce thousands of tons of cobalt per year for almost no wages. He told researchers that prolonged time underground made him constantly ill: I would spend 24 hours down in the tunnels. You need tens of kilograms more copper for an electric car compared with one with a petrol engine, said Herrington. They have about 70, 80% of the refined cobalt market and probably half of the battery market. Already, some solar products have been halted over questions about the source of their raw materials. Junior Kahhah/AFP via Getty Images And these tunnels collapse all the time, burying alive everyone who is down there, including children. A joint venture between a Ganfeng unit and Xinjiang Geology and Mineral Investment aims to obtain quality lithium resources, Ganfeng said in a post on an online investor forum in June. A representative for the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa did not respond to a request for comment. Kitco Account, Gold retreats as robust US data lifts dollar; focus on Fed, Sotheby's doubles down on NFTs with the launch of a secondary marketplace, S&P, Dow edge higher as JPMorgan gains; Fed meet in focus, Jamie Dimon bails out First Republic - and FDIC, Collapse of First Republic shows banking turmoil is not over, gold price flirts with $2,000 level, Monday's Charts for Gold, Silver and Platinum and Palladium, May 1, Where are the stops? None said they had been in touch with Huayou Cobalt or traced where the cobalt in their products had come from prior to Amnesty Internationals contact. "If we don't step up, other forces will step in," Mr Trudeau told the Council on Foreign Relations inNew York on Friday. More children will be exploited and lives lost amid a surge for cobalt Credit: Corbis - Getty. Which isn't democratic at all. The concept of raw materials can be traced to the theological notion of prime matter. The term originally comes from Aristotle, whose work was introduced to Christianity via Latin translations around the 12th century. that also supplies much of the world's materials for solar "You have to imagine walking around some of these mining areas and dialing back our clock centuries," Kara says. This is because removing these raw materials can result in soil degradation, water shortages, biodiversity loss, damage to ecosystem functions and an increase in global warming (euronews.green). So if you don't play ball with the power brokers at the top of the chain and with the Global North, Patrice Lumumba showed what's the outcome, what will happen. security as a pretext and said the divestment order broke The reality is that it is a back-breaking life of misery for almost no money. Because we don't use slave labor," Trudeau said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. However the mining and processing of these materials often involve many labor and ethical malpractices, such as child labor and borderline slavery. "Industrial mines, almost all of them, have artisanal miners working, digging in and around them, feeding cobalt into the formal supply chain.". So children are the most heavily exploited of all the people down there. Chinese firms also own, operate or finance most of the Bolivias lithium projects pose a new potential clash of worldviews. In Idaho, America's first, and only, cobalt mine in decades is opening, Belgium returned a single tooth to the Congo this week. Without laws that require companies to check and publicly disclose information about where they source minerals and their suppliers, companies can continue to benefit from human rights abuses. Ganfeng has a vast network of operations and projects spanning Australia to Argentina, which could give clients options to avoid the use of raw materials produced from future Xinjiang sites, according to Seth Goldstein, a Chicago-based equity strategist at Morningstar, who covers Tesla and battery supply chain firms. World production is set to soar over the next decade. In addition to these issues, the proposed expansion of nuclear power in the UK to satisfy demand no longer met by coal or gas plants is likely to lead to the creation of increased amounts of nuclear waste. Artisanal mining is largely unregulated, still easily mined by child and slave labor, and is the source of 15-30% of DRC cobalt. 34 injured and houses destroyed after Russia launches early morning strikes on Ukraine, US authorities 'auction' First Republic Bank after second biggest bank failure in history, 'Every second is critical': Major upgrade to national emergency messages to receive more than $10m, Donald Trump denied mistrial in rape case brought by writer E Jean Carroll, Environmental group begs French energy giant to reconsider plan to fill Hazelwood coal mine with water, Katharine quit a career in opera to grow heirloom seeds and she has no regrets, Live: Vaping crackdown to include ban on non-prescription imports, Texas gunman on the run. In response, China accused Ottawa of using national security as a pretext and said the divestment order broke international commerce and market rules. Titled "This Is What We Die For," the report traces the. The mines have taken over everything. Last year, a U.S. According to the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor), Over 70% of the worlds cobalt is extracted from mines in The Democratic Republic of Congo. The largest of them is Huayou Cobalts Congolese subsidiary CDM. I just hope I've done justice to those stories and to the people who shared their tragedies with me, courageously shared these tragedies with me. Last year, a USlaw took effect banning imports from China's Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labour. Jonathan Oatis). Our growing appetite for copper provides a striking illustration of the issues. Themodern economyturns nature into a source ofraw materials: morally and spiritually inert matter that is there to be extracted and mobilized worldwide. A lithium producer for car makers including BMW and Tesla is beginning work to assess battery metals projects in Xinjiang, deepening links between electric vehicle supply chains and a region at the heart of human rights allegations against China. None of them have supports, ventilation shafts, rock bolts, anything like that. Smartphones, computers and electric vehicles may be emblems of the modern world, but, says Siddharth Kara, their rechargeable batteries are frequently powered by cobalt mined by workers laboring in slave-like conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "Because we put forward environmental responsibility as something we actually expect to be abided by. And so when big foreign stakeholders come waving around large sums of money, it's not a long stretch of the imagination to see that there would be corruption. As a result, the worlds appetite for copper is likely to jump by more than 300% by 2050, according to one recent report. With 8 million tons, Chile has the worlds largest known lithium reserves. in sectors including mining and construction. Even the nightmares and the terrors, it's all worth it. largest producer of lithium-ion batteries, known since pre-colonial times as huacas. In a joint-investigation with African Resources Watch (Afrewatch), an African NGO focusing on human rights in the minerals and extractive industries, Amnesty International says it interviewed 90 adults and children working in five artisanal cobalt mine sites. China's Tianqui Lithium acquired a 23.77 per cent stake in 2018. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice| Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information| Ad Choices has an estimated $24 trillion in untapped minerals. "People are working in subhuman, grinding, degrading conditions. In turn, they sell to battery makers who claim to supply technology and car companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, Daimler and Volkswagen. Chinese firms also own, operate or finance most of the Democratic Republic of Congo's cobalt mines, the USLabour Department said in a recent report. Moreover, the work. Its latest report in 2018 pointed specifically to risks associated with gold mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Peru, coal mining in Pakistan, and diamond mining in Angola. Amnesty International and Afrewatch researchers spoke to 87 current and former cobalt miners, 17 of them children, from five mine sites in southern DRC in April and May 2015. Lithium-ion battery prices have plummeted over the past decade or so, yet last year soaring metal prices helped to push up battery costs by 7%. The lawsuit said the children, some as young as 6 years old, were forced by their families' extreme poverty to leave school and work in cobalt mining owned by the British mining company. to ramp up production of the metal used in electric vehicle and suggested that nearly every major automaker has significant It is estimated that it takes 2.2 million liters of water to produce 1 ton of lithium. Lithium and Cobalt are two crucial components to create electric vehicles and many batteries. China denies abuses in Xinjiang, a major cotton producer that also supplies much of the world's materials for solar panels. Any indication that Tesla, or another EV or battery manufacturer, is in fact collaborating with businesses that seem plausibly to be using forced labor would be very concerning to investors, said Richard Clayton, research director at SOC Investment Group, which works with union pension funds that manage assets worth more than $US250 billion ($367 billion) and hold Tesla shares. Though EVsemit fewer greenhouse gasesthan fuel-powered vehicles, their batteriesrequire more mineralsespecially lithium, which is also used to make batteries for smartphones and computers. In December, the United Auto Workers union called on automakers to shift their entire supply chain out of Xinjiang after a report by Britain's Sheffield Hallam University suggested that nearly every major automaker has significant exposure to products made with forced labor. Both elements are needed to make lightweight rechargeable batteries for electric cars and for storing power from wind and solar plants. Rule 138 Ioannis Lagos (NI) Children as young as four are being forced to slave for 12 hours a day in Congo 'horror mines, extracting cobalt for the manufacture of mobile phones. April 21, 2023, 10:28 AM PDT. Ganfengs plans to expand in Xinjiang risk drawing Elon Musks Tesla closer to the controversy over human rights in the region. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. The United States has alleged use of forced labor by China an Account, Activate Tesla will act to end relationships with suppliers that do not meet standards, or fail to correct issues of concern in a reasonable time frame, according to the report. And yet, lo and behold, at most of the industrial mines, there is some artisanal mining taking place. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Maddox Rosenberg, Image Editor| February 22, 2023. Vodafone, in its response to Amnesty, stated that the company is unaware as to whether or not cobalt in our products originates in Katanga in the DRC both the smelters and the mines from which the metals such as cobalt are originally sourced are several steps away from Vodafone in the supply chain. The DRC produced approximately 74% of the world's cobalt in 2021. However, recent research by marine scientists have also revealed that despite the Clarion-Clipperton Zones depth it lies between 4,000 and 5,500 metres below the surface the ocean floor there is also rich is sea-life. Now, add to that the menace in many cases of armed forces pressuring people to dig, parents having to make a painful decision, 'Do I send my child to school or do we eat today?' The risks to the EV sector of inputs coming out of Xinjiang is huge, said Emily de La Bruyere, a co-founder of Horizon Advisory, a US-based consultancy focused on forced labour issues. The partners will aim to take advantage of local lithium resources and contribute to the regions economic development, according to a statement posted to WeChat. Wind and solar plants are set to replace coal and gas power stations, while electric cars oust petrol and diesel vehicles from our roads. Amnesty International and Afrewatch claim that despite the denials by some of the named multinationals, none of those companies named could independently verify where the cobalt in their products come from. Kitco News. The glamourous shop displays and marketing of state of the art technologies are a stark contrast to the children carrying bags of rocks, and miners in narrow manmade tunnels risking permanent lung damage. One survey, in 2017, found more than 30 species new to science living on the zones abyssal plain, most of them xenophyophores considered the worlds largest living single-celled organisms. And then the worst of all is what happens in tunnel digging. In November, Canada ordered three Chinese companies to divest from Canadian critical minerals, citing national security. It's not chattel slavery from the 18th century where you can buy and trade people and own title over a person like property. All Rights Reserved. Technically, under the law, there should not be artisanal mining taking place in any industrial mine. "If the pandemic taught us anything, if the pandemic taught us anything, it's resilience, redundancy and reliability in our supply chains," Trudeau said. And I'm afraid that . Extracting the raw materials, mainly lithium and cobalt, requires large quantities of energy and water. Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you. In part, this is because itshigh-altitude salt flatsarent suited to the usualextraction method, solar evaporation. "Because we put forward environmental responsibility as
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