The world’s smartphones, electric vehicles, and rechargeable batteries share a common origin point: the red earth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. More than 60% of the global supply of cobalt comes from this single country. That mineral is not a luxury. It is a structural requirement for the technology supply chain. Without it, much of modern electronics stops functioning.
Mineral exports account for over 95% of the DRC’s export revenues. Cobalt, copper, diamonds, gold, tantalum, and tin flow out of the country in massive volumes. The scale is hard to overstate. The DRC is not one player among many. It is the dominant supplier for a mineral the rest of the world depends on. That dependency creates a stark set of stakes — for global industry, for the Congolese economy, and for the thousands of people who pull the ore from the ground.
The mining industry inside the DRC is not a single, clean operation. It splits into three tiers. Large-scale industrial projects, often backed by international companies, operate with some regulation and management. Semi-industrial ventures sit in the middle. Then there is the sprawling world of artisanal and small-scale mining, known as ASM. These operations are widespread. They are also dangerous.
Artisanal miners work without the resources or infrastructure for safe conditions. The risks to health and life are constant. Cave-ins, toxic exposure, and lack of protective equipment are routine. The report notes these operations frequently run under exploitative conditions. There is no mystery about what that means in practice. People dig by hand in tunnels that can collapse. They breathe dust laced with heavy metals. They do it because there is no alternative.
And yet, for all the danger, ASM is not a marginal sideshow. It provides livelihoods for thousands of people. In a country where formal employment is scarce, artisanal mining is one of the few ways to survive. The sector is vital to the DRC’s mining industry precisely because it is so large. The problem is the lack of regulation and oversight. That vacuum leaves miners exposed and makes the supply chain murky for buyers overseas.
The stakes here are concrete. For the global technology sector, the DRC is not optional. Cobalt from Congolese mines goes directly into the batteries that power laptops, phones, and electric cars. Any disruption in supply — whether from political instability, regulatory crackdowns, or mine collapses — sends shocks through the entire electronics market. The world has not built a backup for Congolese cobalt. Not yet.
For the DRC itself, the mineral wealth is both a lifeline and a trap. Export revenues depend almost entirely on mining. That means the national budget rises and falls with commodity prices and foreign demand. Diversification is slow. The country remains locked into a single dominant sector.
And for the miners themselves, the stakes are physical. Artisanal operations are not a career choice. They are a last resort. The conditions are dangerous. The pay is uncertain. The lack of oversight means abuses go unchecked. International companies that buy the minerals have begun facing pressure to trace their supply chains, but the gap between a corporate policy and a miner’s reality is enormous.
The DRC sits on a paradox. It holds the minerals the world needs most. It also hosts some of the most dangerous working conditions in the global extractive industry. Those two facts are tied together. The demand for cobalt does not pause for safety improvements. The miners do not have the leverage to demand them. The result is an industry that powers the modern world on the backs of people working in holes in the ground.
