Via Metal Miner The cobalt mining industry, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has received backlash in both the past and present for human rights concerns. In the DRC, children as young as seven are sometimes employed to work in hazardous conditions to collect cobalt, a crucial material for electric car batteries, smartphones and other modern devices. This exploitation generally stems from weak labor laws and poor enforcement. However, these human rights violations also reveal deeper, systemic issues within the cobalt mining…
