Before stepping into our topic I want to thank each and every niche readers and commenters of this blog. We etched our first achievement. Yes, this is our 25th post and will be continuing our journey till the knowledge well dries. On this special day we have decided to add an announcements page in our blog, so, stay tuned for the updates.

                                        Conflict Minerals

Every electronic users in the world is a killer. Even you and me. Do you accept? Let our blog elaborates the deepest cries made by the African people and refugees. 

 

 

 

Think twice before purchasing an electronic gadget. They can unwittingly kill 4 children's education. If we value our children's future then why can't we value them?? Minerals like Tantalum, Tin and Tungsten are mined by individual miners without using any prevention measures. Teenagers and adult men are mining from their Kitchens and bathrooms in order to sell it, so they can at least have a meal for the day. Apart from Individual miners there are major MNC and small vendors who make tons of profit from these Miners. DRC(Democratic Republic of Congo) which is famous for its natural minerals exploitation is formed after the African Cold War. The major reason of this war is to extensively mine the resource from DRC. This war caused more fatalities and injuries than the second world war. Till date there are 1000 of people dying in DRC due to starvation/adverse effects of mining. 

Apart from 3T(Tungsten, Tantalum and Tin) there are other minerals extracted from DRC like cobalt, Copper, Gold, Diamond etc., we will talk about the cobalt here as DRC alone contributes 1/3rd of the necessary. Previously Australia, China, Belgium and some South American countries supplied them. Once they discovered their usage they reduced their mining and even some stopped their mining activity. Now the whole electronic industry is now dependent on DRC and surrounded countries like Rwanda and Zambia. 

 

 

Before getting into the top MNC let us sketch you an idea of how this supply chain works.

 

Huayou gets cobalt form its parent company Congo Dongfang International Mining. A Similar supply chain exists with the Glencore(Swiss based company) a top exporter of cobalt to the entire world. We will be shocked after by their mining capacity. They extracted 42200 tonnes of cobalt in 2018. Think the tonnes of soil and other minerals mined from this activity.

Glencore and Huayou cobalt together contributes around 100 % of the supply even after they fill their 50% of their own storage. This is ridiculous. This is how china has became the world's electronics hub by exploiting resources, but now they are trying to hide behind the bars stating that they have terminated the mining activities and thereby providing free education to the children's of that country. The same does not go with Glencore, During the new normal Tesla signed  an agreement with Glencore for the requirement of cobalt. They even bought a mine at Katanga after they stopped mining with their Mutanda mine due to the formation of acid fountain.

Legal audits were performed by governments in late 2012 after child labor activities found. One of the key founders were The Vice Media. The major tech companies like Microsoft, Dell, Apple were law-suited against the cobalt sourcing. Most companies rejected and some said that it cannot be back traced as it involves a huge supply chain process. 

Humans are addicted to IoT devices, but stay staggered whenever you are purchasing a new one. Think how it can benefit, you just have to stop flaunting it.  For example if you are buying a smartphone keep it for at least 4-5 years and then prefer a new one. Don't fall for the Guerilla marketing strategy. As the modern technologies continue to evolve BYD and tesla have made battery without using cobalt. Stay alert and always do research to get the source of everything. If you don't have time just mail us to poornichefacts@gmail.com or tell us in the comment section. We are there to research for you, always.