This month, DR Congo will launch new monitoring and tracing mechanisms to combat child labor in cobalt and copper mines. This was revealed last weekend, during a metals conference in London by an official of the mines ministry.

 “There (in copper and cobalt mines) we have stepped in to look at putting in traceability and monitoring systems. In fact, these mechanisms that I have just mentioned will be operational this very month, March 2018,” said Alexis Mikandji, the director general of the mines ministry’s certification agency.

He indicated that the country has already fixed the issue (child labor) in diamond, iron and tungsten mines and now hopes to tackle it at the cobalt and copper mines.

 For the record, as smartphone and automobile industries are competing for the cobalt supply, the world came to know the supply sources. Several human rights groups have denounced child labor in these mines. For instance, Amnesty International revealed that fifth of the domestic production of the world’s leading cobalt producer (DRC), is hand-mined by informal miners including children.