For now, the fighting is far from the copper and cobalt mines in Congo’s southeast, where there are industrial mining operations run by the likes of China’s CMOC Group, the world’s biggest ...

To understand why, consider Congo’s Copperbelt, from which 60-70% of the world’s cobalt is extracted (see map).Most of Congo’s cobalt is a by-product of large copper mines which cannot ...

Deadly cobalt mines in Congo power our technology. ... An estimated 100,000 cobalt miners in Congo use hand tools to dig hundreds of feet underground with little oversight and few safety measures, ...

Dela wa Monga, an artisanal miner, holds a cobalt stone at the Shabara artisanal mine near Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Oct. 12, 2022. Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images ...

Yet even industrial mining can be hazardous. In interviews, 36 current and former employees at nine of Congo’s industrial cobalt mines described the dangerous work done every day.

There have been warnings about child labor before -- Amnesty International highlighted the problem in 2016 and Glencore (), a leading cobalt producer, said last month that some small mines in the ...

Children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are being used to mine cobalt, a mineral found in virtually all batteries, including those in cellphones, laptops and electric cars.

Children still mining cobalt for gadget batteries in Congo 05:56 An estimated two-thirds of children in the region of the DRC that CBS News visited are not in school. They're working in mines instead.

River water near some of Democratic Republic of Congo’s biggest copper and cobalt mines is toxic and may be causing widespread health problems. Scientists from Congo’s University of Lubumbashi ...