Mary’s daily rhythm begins long before dawn for the sake of six of her eight children in DRC. Walking barefooted over cracked red soil, she guides them past dry river beds toward the twinkling lights of the nearest mining camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Here, cobalt ore that is essential for making electric vehicle batteries, lies just beneath their feet, yet almost none of its promise reaches their plates, fends for their schools, or their futures. Across Africa, stories like this African mother, are becoming more familiar.
Global demand for metals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, uranium, rare earth elements, etc., is poised to quadruple by 2040, if the world is to meet the Paris Agreement targets for curbing climate change. Roughly a fifth of these critical minerals reserves are in Africa. The continent is rich in raw metal, but poor in regulatory, leadership, political-will, governance and infrastructural power. The question now is, as mining expands, will the extraction follow the old, exploitative pattern, or will it be done differently? Drawing a cue from families like Mary’s in Africa, to the global business lines.
In Mary’s concern, cobalt mining means early wake-ups and endless toil. But then, for major multinational firms, governments, investors, etc., cobalt is one axis in the multi-trillion-dollar clean-energy economy being built. The minerals powering batteries, electric cars, solar panels, and wind turbines are the new black oil spinners; such that Africa’s reserves are now drawing unprecedented geopolitical and corporate interest. This interest comes with tension. On one hand, business and government leaders see opportunity in creating jobs, generating revenue, developing infrastructure and positioning for global relevance. In Zambia and South Africa, for example, efforts are now under way to move past mere extraction and toward value addition, innovation and local processing of these critical minerals. On the other hand, families like Mary’s often face the costs of gender manipulations, child labor, unsafe conditions, poor compensation, land loss, environmental degradation and exclusion from decision-making.
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