'It's physically dangerous': (un)covering the cost of cobalt mining in the DRC
đ A conversation with filmmakers Fiona Lloyd-Davies and Robert Flummerfelt.
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Analysis and global perspectives in health, development, planet.
Global demand for cobalt is set to explode.
The metallic element is an essential component of the lithium-ion batteries expected to power the worldâs transition to electric vehicles.
About 70% of the earthâs cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
You might have watched a documentary or read a feature story about cobalt mining in the DRC. The images from artisanal minesâyoung men earning a dollar a day extracting cobalt by hand, children used as labourâmight have been hard to watch.
But those pictures can be misleading, and evidence of serious risks is being kept out of sight, as Fiona Lloyd-Davies and Robert Flummerfelt found in making The Cost of Cobalt, a film produced for Al-Jazeera with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
I spoke with Lloyd-Davies, the filmâs executive producer, and director Flummerfelt as part of a series of conversations that get behind the scenes of some of the filmmaking featured in this yearâs Global Health Film festival.
The conversation touches on what major media outlets get wrong, how getting closer to the truth comes with real risk, and Congolese science that sheds light on the human casualties of an industry set to fuel the global drive to cut carbon emissions. The making of the film is a story in itself.
You can watch the full interview hereâwhat follows is an excerpt, edited for brevity and clarity.
AM: What is the film about, briefly?
FLD: The Cost of Cobalt looks at increasing evidence of the link between environmental poisoning from industrial cobalt miningâin Katanga, Lubumbashi and Kolweziâand birth defects. Now, obviously, this is a complex issue. But the focus is on parents who've worked or live near mines, [and] have an increased likelihood of having children with a variety of very serious and sometimes life-threatening birth defects. The film concentrates on industrial mining, with a reference to artisanal cobalt mining in these areas.
How did you get interested in the storyâhow did you make a start?
FLD: I've been working in the DRC since 2001, 20 years now. My main focus was sexual violence against women, but also I have been doing some stories about artisanal mining of coltan, tantalum, tin. Through that work I started to hear about cobalt mining and Katanga. And I was interested in doing a story on this and trying to find a good way inâbecause quite a few agencies and human rights organisations have looked at artisanal mining, but we feel very strongly that that's not the main focus. They're strong pictures, and obviously there are massive human rights issues involved with children being used as labour, but only 20% of cobalt is mined artisanally. The vast majority [are] massive industrial mines.
So, I saw a scientific paper and got in touch with the scientists and started to hear about what was going on, their work that they've been doing for over 10 yearsâyou know, this is not something new. It's really significant that nobody really has covered this; it has been covered once or twice. It's really only because of the increasing focus on the need to find alternatives to combustion engines, and EVs [electric vehicles] as a way to address climate change, [that] it's been possible to do something about this. And so I started the ball rolling and then Robert went into the field with a research trip, and then filming.
Quite a few agencies and human rights organisations have looked at artisanal mining, but we feel strongly that that's not the main focus
RF: What initially piqued everyone's interest in the particular issue of congenital malformations was, as Fiona mentioned, this flagship article published in The Lancet Planetary Health, which demonstrated some sort of a link. One of our main objectives was to delve into Congolese expertise on the issue. And that entailed working very closely with the team of Professor Banza [CĂŠlestin Banza Lubaba Nkulu], one of the main characters in the film, who is looking at this.
As we began to work closely with this team, and look at the research, we realised that in fact, these major industrial mines are warping the DNA of a massive portion of the population of Katanga province. Millions of people are subjected to major adverse health outcomes. We work very closely with a nurse in a neonatal ward, we saw a lot of families, and she also went through case files [of] babies being born with their stomachs outside of their bodies, or their spine warped, or in many cases dying from the malformations.
[We are] trying to document the fact that this is a major problem that's impacting millions of people. It is caused, as Fiona mentioned, seemingly, singularly by the industrial mines. And that's important, because it seems most major media consistently get [it] wrong. Everyone from the New Yorker to the New York Times to Sky News, when they cover the issue, they're covering small-scale hand minersâguys who are making in many cases less than $1 a day, just trying to eke out a livingâwhen the reality is most of the major problems are associated with extraction on an industrial scale by multimillion dollar outfits based in Canada, China, Switzerland, so forth.
There's a lot to follow up on from what you just said. But let me start with your last point: why do you think coverage sticks to small-scale mining?
FLD: It's multifactorial, but I think two main issues are, it's extremely difficult to access the mines. Robert can talk very powerfully about what happens when you do try. It's so much easier to access the artisanal mines. And the pictures are very powerful. Panorama, the BBC's leading current affairs investigative programme, did a film [recently] on EVs and cobalt in Congo, and wasn't able to get access to the industrial mines. Everything was filmed in an artisanal mine. And, unfortunately it gives the viewer completely the wrong impression. Yes, it is difficult [to access industrial mines], but it's not impossible. It takes dogged, committed research and investigation, and just sticking with the story. And there are huge challenges. It's physically dangerous. Robert can tell you exactly what happened on the ground when we did that.
RF: Yeah, it *was* easy to go and rely on the generosity and assistance of some small-scale miners to go down in the mine as I did, and just film cobalt, see the stuff there in somebody's hands. When we were working on getting footage of the major industrial installations, we were walking around in Kolwezi in an area that's just adjacent to one of these major mines, and a mine security vehicle pulled up, private security got out, and kidnapped a member of our crewâa Congolese lawyer from Lubumbashi. [He] was a member of our crew, we had all the documentation. They grabbed him, dragged him through the dirt, threw him in the back of their vehicle and drove off with him. They wanted our camera and they were looking to get at myself and my colleague who is a Congolese journalist. We basically had to go into hiding in Kolwezi for about three days.
That person was processed through military justice; sent to a military prosecutor where he was held in a three-metre by three-metre cell with 12 other people. This is in January of 2021. The guards encouraged the other inmates to beat him. It required the intervention of three major international organisations and several human rights lawyers based in Kolwezi to get this guy out.
A mine security vehicle pulled up, private security got out, and kidnapped a member of our crew
Interestinglyâand this is an important pointâafter we released the documentary, a well-known broadcast journalist reached out to me to share a very similar story that happened to him when he was covering an industrial mine that was owned by a US company. And so this is a common tactic, suffice it to say. And as I like to put it, if they're willing to do this to a crew member of an Al Jazeera documentary shoot, what is it that they're willing to do to everyday Congolese people?
And that does indeed make it more difficult. But I think it's lazy for international media to [say] âwe're just not going to touch themâ and fetishize small-scale miners.
FLD: And this is purely to get shots from outside the mineâdrone shots above the mine [and shots] on a tripod, situated from a place that was public land. Obviously, the mines are privately owned, or part-government owned. And one needs to go through the mine to get access, which we didn't for that particular film. But we have shown consistently, throughout the film, the exterior and top shots with the drone. Some productions are not even getting those.
Did that experience affect how how you pursued the story?
FLD: Obviously, it's challenging to try and manage these situations when you're not there. And to ensure the safety for your team, which is paramount. It didn't derail the film, and it didn't change what we were trying to do and how we were trying to say it. It just added time to our filming schedule, and it was a moment that had to be dealt with. In a way, it probably strengthened [the film], because it showed very clearly that these industrial mines are so sensitive to any kind of scrutiny, that they won't even let you get within 20 feet of the edge of a mine on public lands to show the proximity of these extraordinary vast opencast mines to residential areas.
As we talk, what I'm thinking is this is, in a way, a new version of an old story. Environmental pollution from mining has been going on for a long time. And yet, what's striking from the film is how unaware the communities areâyou spoke with mothers who had no idea what was happening in their area. Do you think that this is part of what we talked about earlier, with regard to the difficulties of getting past the mining companies?
FLD: Generally, [itâs] a combination of things. There are some extraordinarily motivated civil-society groups, and a small portion of human rights groups locally, working with international human rights groups who are trying to collect information, raise awareness, and also work with the mining companies to try and get them to improve their working practices. But I think, for the average person living there, yes, they're aware that when the [companies are] washing the minerals, the water changes colour, and all the fish die, or maybe so and so's neighbour had a baby that had a problem or died. But, you know, people's lives are really challenging there. Most people are just trying to survive, trying to find work. If you get a job at a mine, you're doing really well. And so you are, I think, much less likely to raise concerns.
RF: We're talking about major adverse health impacts in this region of a country that provides 70% of the planet's cobalt in a time when demand is set to explode. And yet the one-stop shop that is basically conducting all of the research into this issue is Professor Banzaâs team. Just as an illustration, when we went in to film with them in the laboratory, where they're processing the samples, it was basically the size of a large college dormitory. There weren't enough areas in there for the whole team to sit down. We're talking about a very small and very underfunded outfit. And it does relate to what we've been talking about with the media, and the fixation with small-scale minersâbecause, put bluntly, every white foreigner with a camera and a big budget wants to come in and hunt for kids in mines. There's a very small team of people who are looking at the issue. That's going to have to change, if there's going to be awareness in the Congo, and especially internationally, on a more sustained level, about this issue.
đĽ Watch The Cost of Cobalt on Al Jazeera
â Read more about the DRCâs cobalt industry in Green Rocks by Ian Morse
đŠ Get updated about future Global Health Film events
Briefing Highlights
TREND TO WATCHÂ
The warnings keep coming, and the message is consistent: inequalities between rich and poor nationsâand individualsâare growing wider as a result of the pandemic. The haves get richer while the have-nots get pushed into poverty, or are more likely to be lost to Covid-19. Global growth is slower, with economic prospects getting less optimistic. Advancements in development are lost and will be hard to recover, possibly for decades. Rich nations on the whole may be on track to recover by 2023, but thatâs not the case for developing countries. And the World Economic Forum warns that this trend translates to weaker preparedness for global threats such as climate change and social instability.
UNDER THE RADAR
The global scale of pollution from synthetic chemicalsâsuch as plastics, industrial waste and pesticidesâhas now crossed the âplanetary boundaryâ that scientists consider safe. One indicator of this is the total mass of plastics, which now exceeds the total mass of all living animals, according to one of the scientists involved in the research, which calls for a global organisation to focus on the problem.
Based on Briefings published January 25 + January 18
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Pandemic is 'nowhere near over', World Health Organization warns - Euronews
'We right now are basically out of money' for COVAX, says Gavi - Devex
Rich countries lure health workers from low-income nations to fight shortages, raising ethical concerns - NYT + Reuters
Refugees lack COVID shots because drugmakers fear lawsuits, documents show - Reuters
ENVIRONMENT
Nearly half the worldâs kids are exposed to dangerous levels of lead - Vox
Climate crisis threatens Bangladeshâs Sundarbans - Guardian
Leading brands demand global treaty to cut plastic production - Axios
HEALTH
Antimicrobial resistance is the leading cause of death worldwide - Guardian + BBC + Forbes
Dementia cases expected to soar past 150 million by 2050 - BBC + Guardian + Economist
HUMANITARIAN
Philippines: Typhoon Rai wrecked 1.5 million houses, caused hundreds of casualties - Al Jazeera + MSF
Two earthquakes strike Afghanistan, killing at least 27 - NYT + Al Jazeera
South Sudan: Months after flooding, more than 800,000 people are still living in terrible conditions â MSF
How COVID has made education an urgent humanitarian issue - TNH + UNICEF
HUMAN RIGHTS
Taliban launch raids on homes of Afghan womenâs rights activists - Guardian + VOA
Thailand facing crackdown on freedoms - VOA
A SPOT OF GOOD NEWS!
Nepal hospital trials âlife-changingâ treatment for leprosy wounds - Guardian
Why some Asian schools are going wild - BBC Future
âFor the first time, I felt freeâ: Pakistanâs women-led livestock market - Guardian
From the weekâs global soundtrack đ
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