Reports, investigations, academic studies, standards and market analyses on ASM cobalt. Filter by type, search by title or author. Links go to the source document.
The seminal report tracing artisanal cobalt, mined by adults and children, into major electronics and EV supply chains.
Ranked 29 companies on cobalt due diligence and found none meeting international standards.
Documented forced evictions and inadequate compensation to expand six industrial copper-cobalt projects around Kolwezi.
Across five of the largest mines, workers faced below-living wages, unsafe conditions and degrading treatment.
Commissioned testing found toxic, acidified pollution from major mines around Kolwezi, plus gendered health harms.
Bestselling testimony-driven book on deadly conditions for Congolese cobalt miners; its framing is contested by some scholars.
Residents of a Kolwezi area turned into an artisanal mine showed far higher urinary/blood cobalt; children showed DNA damage.
Paternal occupational mining exposure was most strongly associated with congenital malformations.
Fieldwork at 21 mines: cobalt mining can cut poverty and build livelihoods but also drives accidents, pollution and violence.
Early field study estimating 67,000–108,000 cobalt artisanal workers, including many children; documents fatal accidents.
Seminal biomonitoring study showing urinary metals far higher in the mining population than controls.
The foundational five-step risk-based due-diligence framework that cobalt schemes align to.
Challenges the idea that industrial and artisanal chains are cleanly separate; urges broader due diligence.
A progressive standard of responsible-sourcing expectations for ASM cobalt sites, in pilot assessment.
Site-level HSE, traceability and community requirements for safe, controlled artisanal cobalt zones.
A free, OECD-aligned graduated road map for ASM organisations to reach responsible markets.
The principal binding law bringing cobalt into hard supply-chain due diligence and recycled-content targets.
Surveyed 102 artisanal mines; the first systematic baseline of the sector’s structure and conditions.
DRC supplies most mined cobalt; recommends a dedicated artisanal-cobalt policy for transparency and child-labour prevention.
Authoritative annual data; Congo is the leading mined-cobalt source at roughly three quarters of world output.
Argues formalisation, not avoidance, is the viable route to remove child labour and meet demand.
The founding research behind the FCA; baseline study of ASM cobalt at Kasulu and Kamilombe.
Account of the programme’s fifth year: safety, child remediation, savings groups and Cobalt Credits.
Reports the artisanal share of DRC cobalt at a historic low below 2% in 2024 amid structural oversupply.