A multi-stakeholder alliance for fairer artisanal cobalt.
The Fair Cobalt Alliance is a multi-stakeholder initiative founded in 2020, with its secretariat at The Impact Facility and its programmes in and around Kolwezi. It brings 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.
The people who mine cobalt by hand.
The communities that mine the energy transition's cobalt 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. The Alliance's case against disengaging is that artisanal mining would not go away, and that shutting it down could put over 200,000 people out of work.
Figures as stated by the Alliance and the research it cites; sources vary by year. The underlying reports are listed under Reports in this profile.
Although the artisanal and small-scale mining sector is indeed in many cases characterised by poor and dangerous working conditions and child labour, the FCA challenges this overly simple perspective of cobalt mining in the DRC. We know that it does not have to be like this.The Fair Cobalt AllianceThe Alliance describes itself as a multi-stakeholder action platform. Its answer to artisanal mining is engagement: it channels demand toward responsible artisanal cobalt and invests in the mine sites, so that mine work becomes a choice and is no longer the only viable option.
The Alliance's mission and storyAn approach aimed at cobalt mined with dignity.
The Alliance's approach combines four focus areas, from the mine site to the supply chain.
How the Alliance works towards a fairer cobalt sector.
- 01Engaging with artisanal miningArtisanal mining is here to stay, and shutting it down would leave the families who depend on it without income. The Alliance engages with the mine sites and channels demand toward responsible production.
- 02Tackling 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.
- 03Investing across the whole chainThe Alliance mobilises resources across the whole supply chain and delivers technical assistance and investment to the mine sites and their communities.
- 04Measuring and proving itAn independent monitoring framework and an open annual survey at the mine site track progress, and the results are published.
The Alliance puts full implementation at a mine site at three to five years. Its 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.
Results the Alliance reports from Kolwezi.
A selection of what the Alliance reports it and its local partners delivered in and around Kolwezi over the last year. The figures are the Alliance's own, self-reported and not independently verified.
The Alliance's reported impactCredits that let cobalt buyers make artisanal mines safer.
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 premium is reinvested: ventilation, protective equipment, child-rights work, women's facilities. First sold in 2023, the model is now being extended to copper.
How Responsible Cobalt Credits workThe Alliance works in Lualaba, with members worldwide.
The Alliance's programmes run in and around Kolwezi, in the DRC's Lualaba province, the heart of the global cobalt belt. Its 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.
The companies that buy cobalt sit alongside the people who protect children.
Membership is pre-competitive: companies that compete elsewhere share the cost and the work of a fairer cobalt sector. These are some of the organisations in the Alliance.
Its connections across the sector
Every organisation and site the sector data connects to it, grouped by the kind of link. Each name opens its own page, with the dates and sources of the link.
Implements
Partners
Supported by
Active at
More initiatives, mapped and tracked.
The Fair Cobalt Alliance is one of dozens of programmes in the artisanal cobalt space. Browse the full register, or tell us what is missing.