Artisanal and small-scale mining

As a major supplier of copper and cobalt, the DRC plays a critical role in helping the world transition to a low-carbon future. 

The DRC’ s geological endowment is unrivalled – the country has around half of global cobalt and around 10% of copper reserves. Copper and cobalt are key transition enabling commodities and the widespread adoption of renewable energy sources as a means of decarbonising energy supply is expected to create significant new demand.

Historically, ASM in the DRC has been associated with significant challenges, such as child labour and illegal intrusions onto industrial mining sites, including our own, and continues to present risks to both our people and communities. Despite these challenges, ASM is a source of significant employment within the DRC.

We engage on the issue of ASM with the communities living around our businesses, as well as with the DRC government, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), civil society and other key stakeholders, including our customers. As part of this engagement, we are exploring how ASM and large-scale mining can sustainably co-exist as distinct yet complementary sectors of a successful mining industry. We believe that legitimate ASM can play an important and sustainable role in the DRC economy when carried out responsibly and transparently.

As part of our coexistence with ASM in the region, there is a need to manage the possible challenges that arise. One such challenge is the intrusion of illegal artisanal miners onto our operations, which causes safety risks for the artisanal miners, as well as for our workers and operations. Intrusions for the purpose of illegal ASM activities range from individuals who engage in it primarily for subsistence due to limited alternative livelihoods in the area, to more organised, semi-industrial operations conducted by cooperative groups. We address this challenge through our security approach, which seeks to safeguard human rights.

We work with our local communities and other stakeholders in the DRC to to support initiatives that address the underlying contributing factors to ASM. These include providing equipment and finance to encourage alternative livelihoods, encouraging awareness of child labour in the ASM sector and supporting  children’s education.

We believe that addressing the issues associated with ASM requires a multi-stakeholder approach, and we participate in programmes to develop frameworks and standards that support responsible ASM. We are a founding member and an active participant in the Fair Cobalt Alliance, which brings together supply chain actors, civil society and other relevant stakeholders to drive the development of fair cobalt in a range of ways including by supporting the professionalisation of ASM site management to make mines safer, by minimising environmental impact, and by creating dignified working conditions for men and women working at the mines. For more information, see the Fair Cobalt Alliance website.