Nearly three-quarters of the global supply of mined cobalt comes from just two Congolese provinces, #Haut-Katanga and #Lualaba, in what’s known as the #CentralAfricanCopperbelt.

In the DRC’s artisanal mining sector—which exists alongside the formal mining industry—children and adults toil underground for hours in dangerous tunnels, using sticks or makeshift tools to mine for the cobalt-rich mineral #heterogenite. Others sift ore in noxious, contaminated #waters.

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