Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

by Siddharth Kara

The négociants at Kipushi paid Faustin about $2.80 per sack. Authorization to transport ore and a means of conveyance meant that the négociants operating in Kipushi were able to retain almost 40 percent of the value of each sack of heterogenite. It seemed a needless layer in the supply chain that shifted value away from the people who worked the hardest. For that matter, the depots equally seemed to be a needless layer in the supply chain, siphoning yet more value out of the system by providing an informal and untraceable entry point for artisanal cobalt into the formal supply chain. There was nothing to stop mining companies from going to the artisanal sites themselves and directly paying the women, men, and children who dug their cobalt—aside from the negative optics associated with having direct links to hazardous, penny-wage artisanal mining areas teeming with children.