The devastating toll of cobalt mining leaves over 32 dead in Congo

Human Rights Research Center
11 minutes ago
4 min read

December 3, 2025

HRRC calls on governments, corporations, and multilateral institutions to address the life-threatening and abusive conditions under which cobalt is extracted in the DRC and to adopt binding standards for ethical cobalt sourcing. The world must not allow the pursuit of ‘green’ technology to justify the loss of Congolese lives. Immediate reforms, independent oversight, and worker protections are essential.

The mining sector in the DRC has faced ongoing scrutiny over accusations of child labour, unsafe working conditions and corruption. [Image credit: Vladimir Mulder/Shutterstock.com.

On November 15th, a makeshift bridge on a cobalt and copper mine collapsed in Lualaba province in Democratic Republic of Congo, (DRC) killing at least 32 people. The disasters occurred in a semi-industrial mine in the southeastern Kalando area of the province, where a comprehensive restriction prohibiting access had been previously put in place due to heavy rains that exacerbated risks of landslides in the territory.

Passerbies recorded a video of a passerby showing the collapse of a bridge unto dozens of people in the Kalando mine last, which made a splash on social media – a rare instance of attention given the frequent and deadly deaths tied to mineral mining in DRC, and similar African countries. DRC is the world’s main source for cobalt, providing over 70 % of global supply.

Those killed were wildcat miners, or small scale miners who extract minerals without official permits or regulation. In only DRC there are between 1.5 to 2 million people working in the unregulated mining industry, which commonly sees deadly accidents such as the occured Lualaba.

At the time of the disaster, the Kalando mine had military security tasked with guarding it, due to previous clashes between the miners and the military during an ongoing dispute between wildcat miners, a cooperative tasked with organizing digging in the mine, and the site’s legal operators, which are suspected of having ties to Chinese companies that collectively dominate over 80% of national mining production.

During the incident, a panic amongst the wildcat miners was caused by the firing of firearms by security forces, which the DRC’s Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Support and Guidance Service, or SAEMAPE, reported as triggering a rush on the unstable bridge, resulting in its collapse. Their panicked rush led many to land one on top of the other, causing additional deaths and injuries, according to SAEMAPE. Lualaba Provincial Interior Minister Roy Kaumba stated on television that the collapse had caused at least 32 deaths, however the SAEMAPE report held that at least 40 people died from the accident.

Cobalt is one of three minerals known as “ferromagnetic elements” — elements which have a strong ability to create magnetic fields, and that are easily susceptible to external magnetic fields, with Cobalt having the strongest magnetic properties out of all the three.s. Cobalt’s magnetic properties, hardness, high melting point and toughness makes it ideal to create superalloys, or materials that keep mechanical strength even under extreme heat, which makes cobalt essential for the manufacturing of digital technologies.

External influence from major Western and Chinese companies has been directly and indirectly attributed to regulated and unregulated mining in Luabala. Some major companies operate mining groups in the region, and much of the wildcat mining industry finds coordinators or middlemen connected to China, where the majority of electronics manufacturing takes place globally.

The unregulated wildcat mining industry has no labour laws, no safety regulations and consistently has been subjected to reports of child labour. Government officials often turn a blind eye to the situation, and so do the mining operators and the manufacturing companies that receive the mineral. This practice of extraction for profit driven by external actors has long been draining resources from DRC and similar territories, at the high cost in lives for the people working in the industry and who live in the environment around the mines.

The exploitation of African people and resources by global powers, including China and former colonial states, has a long and well-known history. And yet, as this exploitation endures, it continues to hinder the country’s path to stable development, while its environmental damage seeps deeper into landscapes already pushed to the brink.

Ascapital profits are given priority over people's lives and their living conditions, the pursuit of green energy and progress will be tainted red by blood.

Glossary

Binding standards - Binding standards are rules or requirements that states or actors are legally obligated to follow
Child labour - The employment of children in an industry or business, especially when illegal or considered exploitative.
Cobalt - the chemical element of atomic number 27, a hard silvery-white magnetic metal.
Cooperative (mining) - An organizational structure intended to coordinate and regulate digging activities among miners.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - A country in Central Africa, known for being the second-largest on the continent and the 11th-largest in the world.
Exacerbate - To make (a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling) worse. Verb.
Exploitation - The action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work.
Ferromagnetic elements - Elements with a strong ability to create magnetic fields and susceptibility to external magnetic fields; cobalt retains the strongest magnetic properties of this group at high temperatures.
Green technology - Technologies intended to reduce environmental impact.
Kalando mine - A semi-industrial cobalt and copper mine in the Kalando area of Lualaba province, DRC, where the bridge collapse occurred.
Lualaba province - A province in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo where the mining disaster took place.
Multilateral Institutions - Multilateral institutions are bodies created by several countries to manage shared challenges and set common rules
SAEMAPE - The DRC's Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Support and Guidance Service (Service d'Assistance et d'Encadrement du Minage Artisanal et à Petite Échelle).
Semi-industrial mine - A mining operation with partial mechanization that falls between small-scale artisanal mining and full industrial operations, typically lacking comprehensive safety infrastructure.
Superalloys - Materials that maintain mechanical strength even under extreme heat.
Unregulated mining industry - Mining operations lacking labor laws and safety regulations, employing 1.5 to 2 million people in DRC.
Wildcat miners - Small-scale miners who extract minerals without official permits or regulation; also known as artisanal miners.

References

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The devastating toll of cobalt mining leaves over 32 dead in Congo

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