Child miners aged four living a hell on Earth so YOU can drive an electric car

Child miners aged four living a hell on Earth so YOU can drive an electric car: Awful human cost in squalid Congo cobalt mine that Michael Gove didn’t consider in his ‘clean’ energy crusade

Sky News investigated the Katanga mines and found Dorsen, 8, and Monica, 4
The pair were working in the vast mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo
They are two of the 40,000 children working daily in the mines, checking rocks for cobalt

Picking through a mountain of huge rocks with his tiny bare hands, the exhausted little boy makes a pitiful sight.

His name is Dorsen and he is one of an army of children, some just four years old, working in the vast polluted mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where toxic red dust burns their eyes, and they run the risk of skin disease and a deadly lung condition. Here, for a wage of just 8p a day, the children are made to check the rocks for the tell-tale chocolate-brown streaks of cobalt – the prized ingredient essential for the batteries that power electric cars.

And it’s feared that thousands more children could be about to be dragged into this hellish daily existence – after the historic pledge made by Britain to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2040 and switch to electric vehicles.

It heralds a future of clean energy, free from pollution but – though there can be no doubting the good intentions behind Environment Secretary Michael Gove’s announcement last month – such ideals mean nothing for the children condemned to a life of hellish misery in the race to achieve his target.

Once more ‘white people’ are expected to do something about this outrage. We DID end slavery so I guess the ‘black community’ sees it as our problem. I’m betting even the person who wrote this piece is white.

Here’s my suggestion for the black community: PICK THIS UP AS A PROJECT FOR BLACK LIVES MATTER. Show the rest of us you care about something - anything - other than your selfish embittered selves.

Surprise us... Protest for someone OTHER than yourselves...Protect these young black children WHO REALLY ARE VICTIMS.

Yeah, I sell mining equipment and so that was my first reaction...cheaper to use heavy equipment. Maybe they’re re-working tailings.

OTOH, if this is a way for them to make a living and survive, who are we to tell them they can’t.

But, when in doubt, use a bulldozer.

This is one of the ways that the “redistribution” of the wealth would occur.

Ban oil and gasoline in western countries, and the wealth would go to the countries that can produce the products needed to drive EVs.

Except that the people in those countries would never see the redistributed wealth, which would be controlled by tyrannical and uncaring people at the top, especially those in government.

The video I put up gave a hint on what was taking place when they sold the Cobalt.
She said, "The buyer didn't ask questions how he got the Cobalt"

In other words they were working as entrepreneurs and would had to have changed as soon as the owner realized a bulldozer was cheaper and he could afford to buy one.

Indeed, it’s a great chance for BLM to do something productive rather than insult & destroy.

But since they won’t...

“We” are doing something about it. We buy rechargeable batteries, which need cobalt, which gets money into that area and into the hands of the existentially poor. ‘tis a struggle for them now, with paltry payoff, but it’s better than nothing and sets the course for real growth & success.

There are many who note that Westerners who dive into such regions and impose high salaries & great conditions actually do an incredible _disservice_: unable to raise the bar for everyone in the region instantly, they grossly overpay by local standards, making demand for such jobs insanely high and making risks of job loss terribly painful (”sorry you lost your $15/hr job, back to making $0.15/day”), and making competing jobs untenable. There is a vital need for a natural growth of economy.

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