DR Congo's state cobalt buyer announces pilot mine projects
A man watches a conveyor belt loaded with chunks of raw cobalt after a first transformation at a plant in Lubumbashi, DRC on February 16, 2018. PHOTO | AFP
DR Congo's long-inactive state cobalt buyer is set to the unveil the artisanal mines it will oversee in a bid to improve dire working conditions in the sector, the firm's head said Thursday.
Over 200,000 people are estimated to work in informal cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world's largest producer of the critical mineral, a key ingredient in batteries.
