Making the world's cobalt fair at its source.
We bring together companies, civil society and mining communities to make artisanal cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo safer, fairer and free of child labour, while building livelihoods that reach beyond the mine.
Cobalt dug by hand, by more than 150,000 people.
Cobalt powers the energy transition. The communities that mine it are too often left behind.
More than two thirds of the world's cobalt comes from the DRC. A share of it is dug by hand by artisanal miners, where poverty drives dangerous conditions and child labour. Boycotts do not make that disappear: they only remove the income, and the leverage to change it.
Figures as stated by the FCA and cited research; sources vary by year. See the Knowledge hub for the underlying reports.
The artisanal sector is often characterised by poor conditions and child labour. The FCA challenges that overly simple picture. We know that it does not have to be like this.The Fair Cobalt Alliance
We are a multi-stakeholder action platform. Rather than walk away from artisanal mining, we channel demand toward responsible cobalt and invest in the people and places that produce it, so that mining becomes a chosen livelihood and not a last resort.
Read our mission and storyFour connected pillars, one outcome: cobalt mined with dignity.
Child labour, mine safety, poverty and supply-chain trust are not separate problems. We work on all four at once, because each one holds up the others.
How a fairer cobalt sector actually gets built.
- 01Engage, don't boycottArtisanal mining is not going anywhere. Cutting it out of supply chains removes income and oversight at once. We stay, and we channel demand toward responsible production.
- 02Tackle the root causesSafer mines plus diversified income turn mining into a voluntary occupation. When households are not desperate, children go to school and conditions improve.
- 03Invest across the whole chainWe mobilise finance and technical assistance from every link of the supply chain and direct it to the mine sites and communities where it changes lives.
- 04Measure and prove itAn independent monitoring framework and an open annual survey at the mine site keep us honest. Impact is published, not asserted.
Full implementation at a mine site takes three to five years. Our flagship work runs at the Kamilombe site in Kapata, Kolwezi.
The journey of artisanal cobalt.
Most artisanal cobalt passes through the same hands before it ever reaches a refinery. These are the people the FCA works alongside.
Proof, not promises.
A selection of what the Alliance and its local partners delivered in and around Kolwezi over the last year.
Explore our impactFinance that reaches the mine, one tonne at a time.
One Cobalt Credit represents one tonne of responsibly produced cobalt. Companies buy credits to match their footprint, and a worker-led committee at the mine decides how the money is reinvested: ventilation, protective equipment, child-rights work, women's facilities. First sold in 2023, the model is now being extended to copper.
How Cobalt Credits workRooted in Lualaba, connected to the world.
Our programmes run in and around Kolwezi, in the DRC's Lualaba province, the heart of the global cobalt belt. The flagship site is the Kamilombe mine in the Kapata community, home to more than 5,000 artisanal miners. Members and partners span the UK, Europe, North America and East Asia.
Carmakers, refiners, technology companies and child-rights organisations, at one table.
Membership is pre-competitive: companies that would never share a boardroom share the cost and the work of a fairer cobalt sector. These are some of the organisations in the Alliance.
A fairer cobalt sector is built together, or not at all.
Join as a member, partner on the ground, or support the work. Whatever your link to cobalt, there is a way to be part of the change.