SUSTAINABILITY

Artisanal mining is where a smallscale miner works independently of a mining company . Such mining accounts for around 30 % of DRC ’ s cobalt production

It resists oxidation and corrosion at high temperatures , is strongly ferromagnetic , even at high temperatures , and is both hard wearing and heat resistant .

This makes it a key component in superalloys , used to make parts for gas turbine engines and rocket engines . It is also used to produce powerful magnets used in motors , generators , and magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI ) machines .

But it is its use in lithium-ion batteries – for electric vehicles ( EVs ) laptops , smartphones and other rechargeable electronic devices – that is the main driver of demand . Cobalt helps increase battery lifespan , which in the drive towards cleaner energy makes it crucial .

Cobalt is not found as a free , or ‘ native ’ metal , like gold and copper , but rather in a chemically combined form in ores , including cobaltite , erythrite and skutterudite .

The Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ) is the world ’ s leading source of cobaltite ore , with major deposits found in the Katangan Copperbelt region of the country , which is rich in copper-cobalt deposits .

Underground mining is the most common method for mining cobalt from hard-rock deposits like those found in the DRC . For shallow and lower-grade cobalt deposits , open-pit or surface mining techniques are used . miningdigital . com 91