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June 26, 2017

No Tesla Without Congo’s Cobalt

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The CEO of a Canadian mining company that is set to invest in mining cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was refreshingly honest about electric vehicle maker Tesla’s dependence on Congo’s cobalt:

“The bottom line is: No DRC, no Tesla,” he said, referring to the U.S. automaker. “You can’t fill the void when you have 64 percent of production coming out of the DRC.”

What is perhaps most concerning about cobalt mining in the Congo is that child labor is rampant at these mining operations, meaning electric vehicles not only depend on cobalt, but on the child labor in the mines.