There were two buyers of cobalt at Musompo that were of particular interest to me—CDM and CHEMAF. These were the two companies that operated the two model sites for artisanal mining in Lualaba Province. Being a model mine was supposed to mean safe working conditions for artisanal miners, no child labor, fair wages, no dangerous tunnel digging, and above all, ironclad assurances that cobalt mined from the sites was never mixed with cobalt from any other source. These declarations were meant to assure the buyers of their cobalt that their supply chains were untainted by child labor or other
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