The titanic companies that sell products containing Congolese cobalt are worth trillions, yet the people who dig their cobalt out of the ground eke out a base existence characterized by extreme poverty and immense suffering. The author makes governments around the world who sign up to the Net Zero/Just Transition farce look like the con artists they really are. It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance.

And thus continues the cycle of child labor that supplies the vast majority of cobalt to the global supply chain. They fear tunnel collapsing, working in radioactive water, and speaking out against their meagre wages.

For all Apple, Tesla and other companies supply chain vows of not having child labor and caring about human rights, there products still contain cobalt mined in the Congo. Roughly 75 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt is mined in the Congo, often by peasants and children in sub-human conditions. He claims that “the blood of the Congo powers our lives” and provides the unvarnished truth, alarming proof that many powerful companies are desperate to hide.

The contributions from ASM are substantial, including 26 percent of the global supply of tantalum, 25 percent of tin and gold, 20 percent of diamonds, 80 percent of sapphires, and up to 30 percent of cobalt. The conditions in the mines are brutal, the book features heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story of gruesome injuries occurring often times to children. I also must thank all in Congo that were involved in the making of this book; may it bring your truth to the world and may we all be strong enough to make the change that needs to be made - your stories have forever changed me and I will never, ever, forget you. One might reasonably expect Kolwezi to be a boom town in which fortunes are made by intrepid prospectors. Kara also dissects the cobalt supply chain that provides for the world while devastating so many Congolese.Then it comes to Cobalt, there are few other raw materials so dominated by one player - the Congo is around 75% of global supply, a staggering concentration. Although there are bad actors at every link in the chain, the chain would not exist were it not for the substantial demand for cobalt created by the companies at the top.