Makaza’s family used to live in a nicer village much closer to basic amenities, but that village was demolished during one of Étoile’s expansions. Like most of the industrial mines in the Congo, Étoile’s concession has grown across the years, displacing thousands of local inhabitants. Displacement of the native population due to mine expansion is a major crisis in the mining provinces. As the living conditions of displaced people worsen, their desperation increases, and that desperation is precisely what drives thousands of local inhabitants to scrounge for cobalt in hazardous conditions on
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