Why the Fair Cobalt Alliance exists.
The Alliance was launched in 2020 to mobilise resources across the whole cobalt supply chain and deliver technical assistance and investment towards a formal, fair and safe artisanal cobalt sector.
The Alliance's mission.
The FCA is a multi-stakeholder initiative that seeks to transform the artisanal and small-scale cobalt mining sector in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: by channelling demand for and increasing the availability of responsible artisanal cobalt, by systemically addressing the root causes of child labour and dangerous practices at mine sites, and by fostering a just transition to a diversified economy that drives the region's sustainable development.
Its stated vision is a cobalt supply chain whose stakeholders, along its length and breadth, align to develop responsible and fair cobalt, bringing prosperity to mining communities while meeting the global demand for equitable cobalt.
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 AllianceHow it began.
By 2020, demand for cobalt was climbing fast, driven by the batteries in electric vehicles, phones and storage. Much of it came from the DRC, and a share was mined by hand, in conditions that drew global concern over safety and child labour.
The common response was to threaten disengagement. But artisanal mining supports hundreds of thousands of people, and cutting it out of supply chains would remove their income and any leverage to improve conditions. A group of companies and organisations chose a different path: stay, and fix it together.
The Fair Cobalt Alliance was established in August 2020 by Fairphone, Signify, Huayou Cobalt and Glencore, convened and managed by The Impact Facility, a UK-registered charity that serves as its permanent secretariat.
The story so far.
- 2020
FCA established; baseline analysis of the Kasulu and Kamilombe mine sites.
- 2023
Child Labour Remediation Hub opens in Kolwezi; first Cobalt Credits sold.
- 2024
Pit-covering safety programme; ten-school solar electrification project.
- 2025
Bellagio convening on responsible ASM; savings groups and remediation scale up.
- 2026
Annual Impact & Finance Report published; public book-and-claim framework due.
The Alliance's theory of change, step by step.
Engaging with artisanal mining
Artisanal mining is here to stay. The Alliance engages with the mine sites and channels demand toward responsible production.
Tackling the root causes
Safer mines plus diversified income make mining a choice, so children go to school.
Investing across the chain
The Alliance mobilises finance and expertise from every link and directs it to the communities.
Measuring and proving it
Independent monitoring and an open annual survey track progress. The results are published.
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.