Latest news with #FairCobaltAlliance

Wall Street Journal

The U.S. Is Eyeing a Minerals Deal With Congo. Included: Child Miners.

The U.S. and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are in talks over a possible minerals deal that would see the former providing security assistance to the latter in exchange for some of the country's natural resources. But charities are warning that any investment in the DRC comes with the risk of encouraging forced labor and child mining in the country. Nonprofits such as the Fair Cobalt Alliance and academics have warned that if investment does flow into the DRC from the U.S. as part of an effort to secure minerals, it would likely raise rates of artisanal and small-scale mining, or ASM, in the country.