Hyperdrive
Never Mind the Mines. In Congo, There’s Cobalt Under the House
So-called artisanal miners wait to start digging for cobalt in a freshly excavated pit at the Kasulo township in Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Photographer: William Clowes/BloombergThe man was digging a toilet in his backyard when his shovel struck a shimmering blue vein of cobalt.
At least that’s the legend in Kolwezi. Once a few locals discovered the metal underfoot five years ago, everyone grabbed hand shovels and pickaxes; they tunneled beneath homes, schools and churches. And that’s how a working-class neighborhood, located on the edges of a densely populated city of half a million, became a hive of pits and tunnels.