eBusiness Weekly
Ford is preparing to clamp down on labour exploitation in the cobalt mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo by using blockchain technology to keep a record of supplies in the metal, a key ingredient for electric vehicle batteries.
The US carmaker will partner with LG Chem, a South Korean chemicals specialist and Chinese mining firm Huayou Cobalt for a pilot programme that will aim to ensure the in-demand metal is responsibly sourced. Concerns have mounted around a practice known as artisanal mining, which often involves children mining for metals by hand.
According to the Congo’s Chamber of Mines, 2 million people are involved in artisanal mining in the country, with around 200 000 miners specifically digging in copper mines. Cobalt is usually obtained as a byproduct of copper and nickel mining. More than 60 percent of the world’s cobalt is produced from the Congo, with mining giants such as Glencore operating in the country’s Katanga province.
In its third quarter production report last year, Glencore said it produced 25,7kt of cobalt across the Congo and Zambia in its year-to-date, marking a 49 percent increase in production from 2017 as the demand for lithium-ion batteries is set to grow.
The likes of Glencore have warned that those sourcing cobalt from small-scale miners could lead to more children being involved in the practice of artisanal mining.
“We remain committed to transparency across our global supply chain,” Lisa Drake, vice president of global purchasing and powertrain operations at Ford, said.
“By collaborating with other leading industries in this network, our intent is to use state-of-the-art technology to ensure materials produced for our vehicles will help meet our commitment to protecting human rights and the environment.”
The new initiative from Ford will be overseen by RCS Global, a company focused on ethical-sourcing of natural resources.
IBM will support the venture with its blockchain protocol, which will be powered by an open source technology from the Linux Foundation.
A trial of the project was started in December. It will track industrially-mined cobalt from the Congo all the way to the batteries to be used by Ford for its future electric vehicle models as it aims to identify any potential human rights abuses via “an immutable audit trail”.
In 2016, Amnesty International accused Huayou Cobalt of buying artisanally-mined cobalt from Congolese children. Chen Hongliang, chief executive of the Chinese mining firm, said the new venture with Ford and IBM was central to his company’s goal of “delivering ethical cobalt”.
“We believe in transparency and a collaborative approach to improving production conditions in the DRC cobalt sector, leveraging the project to this end has huge potential,” he said. — Online.
