What is *Cobalt Red* by Siddharth Kara about?

*Cobalt Red* exposes the brutal reality of cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), revealing how artisanal miners—including children—endure exploitation and hazardous conditions to extract the mineral powering smartphones and electric vehicles. Siddharth Kara documents firsthand accounts of suffering tied to global tech supply chains, emphasizing corporate complicity and the human cost of renewable energy.

Who should read *Cobalt Red*?

This book is essential for readers interested in human rights, ethical consumerism, or environmental justice. Policymakers, tech industry professionals, and students of global supply chains will gain critical insights into the hidden costs of modern technology and the systemic oppression driving cobalt extraction.

Is *Cobalt Red* worth reading?

Yes—Kara’s investigative rigor and harrowing testimonies make *Cobalt Red* a vital read, despite critiques of its Western lens. The book’s exposure of child labor, toxic mining practices, and corporate negligence challenges readers to confront the moral implications of their reliance on technology.

What are the main criticisms of *Cobalt Red*?

Critics argue the book oversimplifies Congolese experiences by focusing narrowly on victimhood, neglecting accounts of resilience or joy. Some note Kara’s outsider perspective risks reinforcing stereotypes, though the core revelations about exploitation remain undisputed.

How does *Cobalt Red* describe the cobalt supply chain?

Kara traces cobalt from hand-dug Congolese pits to global tech firms, highlighting a deliberately opaque supply chain. He debunks “model mining sites” as facades, revealing how ethically sourced claims mask widespread mixing with cobalt mined under abusive conditions.

What role do tech companies play in *Cobalt Red*?

Tech giants are portrayed as complicit in slavery-like practices, prioritizing profit over accountability. Kara alleges they knowingly source cobalt from artisanal miners—including children—while sidestepping responsibility through layered subcontractors.

Who is Siddharth Kara, the author of *Cobalt Red*?

Siddharth Kara is a Harvard- and UCLA-affiliated expert on modern slavery, with 20+ years documenting global human trafficking. His prior books, like *Sex Trafficking*, and advisory roles with the UN underscore his authority on labor exploitation.

What solutions does *Cobalt Red* propose?

While not prescriptive, Kara’s work urges transparency in supply chains, corporate accountability, and consumer activism. His research has informed policy debates on regulating mining practices and protecting artisanal miners.

Cobalt Red

How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

Siddharth Kara

4.36(14535 Reviews)

Overview of Cobalt Red

Dive into "Cobalt Red," the Pulitzer Prize finalist exposing how our smartphones run on Congolese blood. After Joe Rogan amplified Kara's shocking findings, tech giants faced unprecedented scrutiny. What human cost powers your device? The answer will haunt you.

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Chapter 1

The Blood Behind Our Batteries: A Journey into Congo's Cobalt Mines

Imagine if 75% of the world's fossil fuels came from a single 400x100 kilometer patch of earth. This is precisely the reality of cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which produces 72% of the global supply. Yet this book isn't just about minerals-it's about human lives. Siddharth Kara's "Cobalt Red" has been called "the most powerful and damning portrait of the cobalt industry" by The Guardian and praised by Elon Musk as "an important expose of exploitation." The book has sparked international conversations about supply chain ethics, with Apple, Tesla, and other tech giants scrambling to address the issues it raises. Through meticulous research conducted over three dangerous journeys to Congo's mining regions between 2018 and 2021, Kara reveals the devastating human cost behind our rechargeable devices. His work continues a tradition of Congo exposes dating back to Joseph Conrad and E.D. Morel, but with a modern urgency that has already begun shifting corporate policies and consumer awareness.

Chapter 2

The Epicenter of Our Digital Lives

The cobalt mines of Kolwezi, Congo represent a profound paradox-a place most people have never heard of, yet one that's indispensable to modern life. This single region contains roughly 25% of the world's cobalt reserves, making it the beating heart of our digital economy. Without the cobalt extracted here, the rechargeable batteries in our smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles would be unstable, prone to overheating, and incapable of holding sufficient charge. Despite its critical importance to global technology, Kolwezi remains impoverished, scarred by what Kara describes as "the mad scramble" for cobalt. Rather than prosperity, the region bears the marks of "enormous" destruction and "incalculable" suffering-what he calls "the new heart of darkness." This exploitation follows a tragic historical pattern. In 1876, British explorer Verney Lovett Cameron described Congo as a country of "unspeakable richness" ripe for "enterprising capitalists." Within a decade, Europeans began systematically plundering Congo's natural resources. The country has repeatedly been stripped of whatever resource was most valuable at the time-from ivory and rubber in the late 1800s to uranium for the first atomic bombs, tantalum for electronics, and now cobalt for rechargeable batteries. The Democratic Republic of Congo occupies the geographical heart of Africa, a vast land of wild forests, mountains, savannas, and powerful rivers. Despite possessing trillions in mineral wealth, the DRC ranks 175th on the UN Human Development Index with three-quarters of its population living below the poverty line. The southeastern Katanga region, where cobalt mining is concentrated, has historically seen itself as separate from the rest of Congo, creating ongoing tensions over control of its vast mineral resources. While these resources could fund education, healthcare, and infrastructure, most wealth flows out of the country, leaving cobalt miners earning just $1-2 per day while generating billions for foreign corporations. This stark disconnect between resource wealth and human poverty forms the central tension that drives Kara's investigation.

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Chapter 3

From Toxic Pit to Shiny Showroom: Following the Cobalt Supply Chain

The global cobalt supply chain transforms the dollar-a-day wages of Congolese miners into multibillion-dollar corporate profits through a complex web of formal and informal relationships. At the bottom are artisanal miners or "creuseurs" who dig with rudimentary tools for heterogenite ore containing cobalt. Though the government agency SAEMAPE has designated fewer than 100 legal artisanal mining zones (ZEAs), hundreds of thousands of miners work in unauthorized areas, often adjacent to industrial operations. Artisanal cobalt enters the formal supply chain through negociants (traders) who purchase from miners and sell to comptoirs (depots) scattered throughout the mining provinces. These depots, mostly Chinese-operated despite laws requiring Congolese ownership, sell to industrial mining companies and processors with no scrutiny of the ore's source. This merging of informal with formal production makes it "impossible to isolate artisanal from industrial production," with artisanal mining accounting for up to 30% of all Congolese cobalt. What makes Congo's cobalt deposits uniquely accessible to artisanal miners is their occurrence in "sediment hosted stratiform deposits"-discrete layers of sedimentary rocks initially laid down in water and pushed upward by tectonic activity from the East African Rift. Ocean water deposits combined with tectonic action created copper-cobalt ores found both at great depths and near the surface. At depths below the water table, cobalt exists in carrollite, while closer to the surface, weathering creates cobalt hydroxide in heterogenite. These "cobalt raisins" form blocks that artisanal miners access through tunnels up to sixty meters deep. While cobalt has been used for centuries as a blue pigment, its modern industrial applications range from superalloys to medical implants, earning it "critical" and "strategic" designations from the EU and US. The electric vehicle revolution has driven unprecedented demand for cobalt. From just 17,000 EVs globally in 2010, the number exploded to 16 million by 2021, with projections of 230 million by 2030 to meet climate goals. Lithium-ion batteries power the EV revolution by rebalancing chemical imbalances between cathodes and anodes. Cobalt's unique electron configuration allows batteries to remain stable at higher energy densities through repeated charge cycles, maximizing driving range. The three primary lithium-ion battery types-LCO, L-NMC, and L-NCA-contain between 7-60% cobalt, with lithium accounting for only 7%. While manufacturers are working to reduce cobalt dependence by increasing nickel content, this sacrifices thermal stability and safety. Despite efforts to develop cobalt-free alternatives, most have significant disadvantages in energy density, stability, manufacturing costs, and longevity, ensuring Congo's cobalt will remain essential for the foreseeable future.

Chapter 4

"Here It Is Better Not to Be Born": The Human Cost of Cobalt

Lubumbashi announces itself with the giant Ruashi copper-cobalt pit mine beside the airport-three enormous craters with heavy-duty excavators working along terraced edges like yellow ants. Founded by Belgians as Elisabethville in 1910 to exploit the Etoile du Congo mine, the settlement expanded with the Ruashi excavations in 1919. Today, thousands of brick huts crowd against the concession, and for many residents, working and living conditions remain virtually unchanged since colonial times. At Etoile mine, artisanal miners like Makaza from Mukwemba village work for pittance wages. Digging in large pits and along walls, he produces 40-50 kilograms of heterogenite daily for just 2,000-2,500 Congolese francs ($1.10-$1.40). His village exists in bleak conditions-no electricity or sanitation, water from narrow wells ringed by old jeep tires, and distant access to medical care and education. Makaza's family previously lived closer to amenities before being displaced by mine expansion, a common crisis in mining provinces that forces desperate locals to scavenge for cobalt in hazardous conditions on land they once occupied. "Eventually, there will be no place left in Congo for Congolese people," Makaza laments. University students Gloria, Joseph, and Reine offered candid insights about Congo's mining situation. They condemned government weakness and corruption: "Congo is only a bank account for the president," Gloria stated, while Joseph explained, "Kabila allows foreigners to steal the country's resources... the creuseurs are made like animals." The students criticized Chinese mining companies for treating Congolese "like slaves" and destroying forests and rivers. Gloria warned of a looming disaster-with mineral reserves lasting perhaps 40-50 years while the population doubles, Congo faces a future of 200 million impoverished, uneducated people with depleted resources. At the Kipushi artisanal site, miners like Faustin work in family groups, digging in five-meter-deep pits. They extract heterogenite-a colorful stone containing cobalt, nickel, and copper that's often mixed with radioactive uranium. Young boys like Andre and Kisangi, eight and ten years old, serve as "laveurs," dragging heavy sacks to putrid copper-colored washing pools. There, they vigorously sieve dirt from stones, their tiny shoulders straining with each movement. The devastated landscape resembles a battlefield, stripped bare with no trees or birds. Teenage girls carry infants on their backs while boys as young as six hack at the earth with rusted spades. Sexual assault against women miners is common, making them the "invisible, brutalized backbone of the global cobalt supply chain." Women like Priscille, who lost her husband to respiratory illness, work twelve hours daily to fill a single 50-kilogram sack, earning just $0.80. As she grimly states, "Here it is better not to be born."

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Chapter 5

From Colony to Cobalt: Congo's Legacy of Exploitation

Congo's present mining exploitation has roots in centuries of colonial history. Beginning with European contact in 1482 when Diego Cao reached the Congo River mouth, through the slave trade that shipped 12.5 million Africans across the Atlantic, to David Livingstone's explorations that opened pathways to the interior, history has shaped Congo's tragic trajectory. European invasion of Africa began with Portuguese exploration in the 15th century. For centuries, Europeans remained restricted to Africa's coasts until David Livingstone's explorations in the mid-19th century. Two technological developments-quinine to combat malaria and steam-powered boats-finally enabled European penetration of the continent's interior. Henry Morton Stanley, a Welsh orphan turned American journalist, found the ailing Livingstone in 1871 and later completed his mission by tracing the Congo River system. Stanley's 1877 journey from the upper Congo to the Atlantic proved the river was navigable in sections, opening the interior to European exploitation. King Leopold II of Belgium seized this opportunity, forming the Association Internationale du Congo (AIC) with himself as sole shareholder. He hired Stanley to secure treaties from local tribes using deceptive tactics, including electric batteries to create the illusion of supernatural strength during handshakes. By 1884, Stanley had secured over 400 treaties from native tribes who couldn't read the documents they signed. At the 1884 Berlin Conference, European powers carved up Africa, and Leopold declared himself sovereign of the Congo Free State-a personal property 76 times the size of Belgium. Leopold's colonial machine extracted maximum value through brutal forced labor. Initially targeting ivory, his enterprise was saved by the invention of rubber tires in 1888, which created enormous demand just as Congo's vast rubber forests became accessible. The Force Publique coerced natives to collect rubber sap using horrific methods-whipping them with the flesh-shredding chicotte, kidnapping families, and amputating hands, noses or ears of those who failed to meet quotas. Congo's rubber exports increased 96-fold from 1890 to 1904, making it Africa's most profitable colony. Joseph Conrad witnessed these atrocities in 1890, later writing Heart of Darkness. The truth remained hidden until E.D. Morel's investigation prompted Roger Casement's landmark human rights report in 1904, forcing Leopold to sell Congo to the Belgian government in 1908 for hundreds of millions. After centuries of slavery and colonization, Congo had a brief chance at independence. When Patrice Lumumba was elected prime minister in 1960, he delivered a fiery independence speech denouncing Belgian oppression, declaring "We are no longer your monkeys." Eleven days later, Belgium orchestrated Katanga's secession through Moise Tshombe, severing 70% of the government's income. Desperate, Lumumba sought Soviet help, prompting the US, UN and Belgium to plot his removal. Mobutu seized power with Western backing, captured Lumumba, and delivered him to Elisabethville where he was tortured and executed by Belgians and Katangans on January 16, 1961. His body was dissolved in acid, with only a tooth kept as a Belgian souvenir.

Chapter 6

"If We Do Not Dig, We Do Not Eat": Inside Congo's Cobalt Mines

The heavy mining traffic and perpetual activity west of Likasi has created dangerous levels of air pollution, with thick clouds of fumes, grit and ash suffocating the land. Villages along the road are coated with airborne debris, and nature has been stripped of its vitality-no flowers, birds, streams or pleasant breezes remain. Only fragments of life persist in this harsh environment of Lualaba Province, where cobalt reigns supreme. Tenke Fungurume (TFM), the largest mining concession in Congo, spans over 1,500 square kilometers-an area larger than greater London. Originally owned by American and European companies, the mine was sold to China Molybdenum (CMOC) in 2016 for $2.65 billion, marking the end of U.S. mining presence in DRC and clearing the way for Chinese dominance. The town of Fungurume has ballooned from 50,000 to 250,000 residents between 2007-2021. Despite company claims of prohibiting artisanal mining, dozens of miners dig into the pit walls, with entire villages supporting this activity. Locals describe being violently evicted from their ancestral lands without compensation, leaving many with no choice but to illegally mine the concession for survival. I met Gloire, a young miner who had been severely injured when a pit wall collapsed. His mangled leg, with missing bone and shattered shin, had received minimal medical care at a local clinic lacking painkillers, antibiotics, and proper diagnostic equipment. His father Franck now takes another son to dig, explaining simply: "if we do not dig, we do not eat." West of Shabara, Tilwezembe has evolved into one of the most sophisticated and exploitative artisanal mining operations in the DRC. Children like Kosongo are trapped in a brutal system of debt bondage. After being forced to dig tunnels 20-30 meters deep, Kosongo suffered catastrophic injuries when a tunnel collapsed, crushing both his legs which later required amputation above the knees. His boss, Chief Banza, had kept him in debt bondage, providing minimal food and pay during tunnel excavation with no accounting of the heterogenite's value against their debts. The conditions in these tunnels are horrific-barely wide enough for children to shimmy through on their stomachs, intensely hot, dusty, and difficult to breathe in, with only small battery-powered headlamps for light. Children typically remain underground for full days, extracting heterogenite and dragging sacks back to a small chamber at the bottom of the main shaft. The human toll is devastating. Tshite, a former miner, shared how his firstborn son Lubo died in a tunnel collapse at Tilwezembe. When Tshite broke his arm and couldn't work, Lubo left school temporarily to support the family. Lubo's boss, a Lebanese man named Arran who controlled over 200 child workers, forced him to dig tunnels. In January 2019, Lubo and approximately forty other children were buried alive when a tunnel collapsed. Only seventeen bodies were recovered.

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Chapter 7

The Devastating Health and Environmental Impact

University researcher Germain has documented devastating health consequences from mining contamination across the Copper Belt. Artisanal miners have forty times more cobalt in their urine than control groups, along with five times the lead and four times the uranium levels. Even non-miners living near mining areas show dangerous concentrations of heavy metals. The contamination causes alarming health problems, including birth defects like holoprosencephaly and stillbirths, with cord blood samples revealing high levels of cobalt, arsenic, and uranium. "Hard metal lung disease" from cobalt dust inhalation can be fatal, while prolonged contact causes acute dermatitis. Cancer rates-especially breast, kidney, and lung-are rising due to nickel and uranium exposure. Lead contamination averages 170 micrograms per square foot inside homes (over four times the EPA's safe limit), causing neurological damage in adults and irreversible developmental harm in children. The Congolese healthcare system cannot handle these crises, lacking doctors trained to diagnose metal contamination illnesses. Germain blames both foreign and domestic mining companies for failing to control toxic runoff or manage waste properly. Despite environmental provisions in the Mining Code, enforcement is nonexistent as government officials prioritize maximizing royalties over public health. At Lake Malo, women report the water is "poison" that "kills the babies inside us" and causes burning skin and upset stomachs. Despite working ten-hour days in toxic conditions, most earn barely more than one dollar per day, and complain that depots consistently undervalue their ore's purity. Fifteen-year-old Archange had to leave school when his family could no longer afford fees, turning to cobalt mining at the KCC pit in 2018. On September 14, 2018, despite feeling feverish and weak, he climbed the treacherous wall to dig. While descending with his first sack of ore, the ground gave way beneath him and he fell to the bottom, fracturing his spine in three places. Now paralyzed below the waist, he sits in a wheelchair, unable to help his struggling family and harboring suicidal thoughts.

Chapter 8

"We Work in Our Graves": The True Cost of Our Digital Lives

Kolwezi represents the epicenter of the world's device-driven economy and electric vehicle revolution, containing roughly one-fourth of the world's cobalt reserves. This frontier city has paid an enormous environmental price for its mineral wealth-satellite imagery reveals colossal craters, behemoth open-pit mines, and vast swaths of barren earth. The landscape has been completely transformed: villages flattened, forests razed, and the earth gouged and gashed to extract its mineral riches. If there was one face that embodied the human tragedy of cobalt mining, it was fifteen-year-old Elodie. I found her digging near Lake Malo in a faded orange sarong, emaciated and suffering from a severe cough that suggested late-stage HIV. Her two-month-old son was wrapped on her back, his tiny head flopping with each strike of her makeshift rebar tool. Elodie had been orphaned by cobalt mining-her father died in an unreported tunnel collapse at KCC in 2017, a year after her mother died from an infection contracted while washing stones at Lake Malo. Left alone, she turned to prostitution, servicing soldiers and miners who "beat us and laugh." After giving birth, she began digging at Lake Malo, earning about 55 cents daily-insufficient for survival, forcing her to continue submitting to sexual exploitation. She lived in an abandoned brick hut with other orphaned children known as shegues (vagabonds without families), thousands of whom survive across the Copper Belt through cobalt scrounging, petty jobs, or sex work. Watching Elodie's labored movements from afar, I imagined her as the latest in generations of Congolese suffering-from her ancestors who might have lost hands during Leopold's rubber terror, to forced labor on palm plantations, to mining exploitation, to the present day. The infant on her back stood to inherit this same tragic legacy. The consequences of Henry Morton Stanley's "newspaper stunt" to find Dr. Livingstone unleashed catastrophic forces that continue to ravage Congo 140 years later. Stanley's bullying and swindling on behalf of King Leopold began a "vile scramble for loot" that has mutated across generations as one treasure after another is plundered, culminating in today's pernicious cobalt rush. Bisette's story reveals the human cost of this exploitation. Her son Raphael abandoned his dreams of becoming a teacher to dig cobalt, earning just a few dollars daily in dangerous tunnels. On April 16, 2018, her worst nightmare came true when his tunnel collapsed at Mashamba East. "When my son died, I died," she confesses, her hair falling out from grief. The next day, in a cruel twist of fate, her nephew Numbi-who had brought news of Raphael's death-was himself buried alive in another collapse at Kamilombe mine. On September 21, 2019, the author witnessed this horrific collapse firsthand. Sixty-three men and boys were buried alive at Kamilombe, with only four bodies recovered. The sight of a bloodied boy no older than fifteen, his face locked in terror, revealed the final truth: "the life of a child buried alive while digging for cobalt counted for nothing. All the dead here counted for nothing. The loot is all." As Bisette cried out for all mothers in this heart of darkness: "Our children are dying like dogs."

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Chapter 9

Toward a More Ethical Future

After witnessing the Kamilombe tragedy, the author met with Congolese ambassador Francois Nkuna Balumuene, who advised that lasting change requires empowering Congolese people to speak for themselves. The author acknowledges this wisdom, noting that meaningful solutions cannot be devised without direct input from those affected-yet artisanal miners are never invited to international conferences about cobalt mining. The COVID-19 pandemic only worsened conditions in Congo's mining regions. With formal mining operations suspended but global demand increasing, pressure intensified on artisanal miners who worked in crowded conditions without protection. Economic devastation followed as Chinese depot agents disappeared, slashing prices paid to miners. Thousands more children left school to dig cobalt, with a local nun estimating that post-COVID, more than two-thirds of children across the Copper Belt were not in school but rather "sick, wounded, and orphaned" in the mines. Despite worsening conditions, the author believes there is a realistic path forward, beginning with accountability from all stakeholders who profit from the miners' labor. The path requires corporations to treat artisanal miners with the same dignity as their headquarters employees. Recent initiatives like the Musompo Trading Centre have failed-the author found it completely empty despite announcements of its launch, while the original marketplace thrived with no oversight. What would meaningful change look like? First, ensuring fair wages for miners-enough to keep their children in school. Second, genuine safety measures and protective equipment. Third, environmental remediation to address toxic contamination. Fourth, healthcare access for those suffering from mining-related illnesses. Fifth, educational opportunities for children currently working in mines. The book concludes with Patrice Lumumba's final letter to his wife before his assassination, expressing his unshakable faith that the Congolese people would eventually "rid themselves of all their enemies, foreign and domestic" and "regain their dignity in the pure light of day." His dream for Congo remains unfulfilled, but through awareness and action, perhaps we can help move closer to its realization. Every time we charge our phones or drive our electric vehicles, we connect ourselves to the children digging in Congo's mines. The question is: now that we know, what will we do about it?

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Key Themes in Cobalt Red

cobalt supply chain
artisanal mining exploitation
modern slavery
green energy paradox
congo mineral extraction

Quotes from Cobalt Red

Kolwezi remains impoverished, scarred by what Kara describes as "the mad scramble" for cobalt.
"Eventually, there will be no place left in Congo for Congolese people," Makaza laments.
"Congo is only a bank account for the president," Gloria stated.
the creuseurs are made like animals.

Characters in Cobalt Red

Siddharth KaraAuthor and researcher who investigated Congo mines
Verney Lovett CameronBritish explorer who described Congo's richness
Joseph ConradAuthor whose historical work exposed Congo abuses
E.D. MorelHistorical figure known for Congo reform efforts

About the Author

Siddharth Kara, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and acclaimed modern slavery expert, is the author of Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives, a groundbreaking exposé on human rights violations in global supply chains.

Kara is a British Academy Global Professor at the University of Nottingham. He combines two decades of field research across more than 50 countries with analytical rigor informed by his Columbia MBA and legal training.

His nonfiction works—including the modern slavery trilogy Sex Trafficking (2009), Bonded Labor (2012), and Modern Slavery: A Global Perspective (2017)—have established him as a leading voice on exploitation economics. Sex Trafficking won Yale’s Frederick Douglass Award and inspired the film Trafficked, amplifying his impact through visual storytelling.

Kara advises the UN and governments on anti-slavery policy while frequently appearing on CNN, BBC, and National Geographic. His Congo cobalt research, detailed in Cobalt Red, has driven international reforms in the tech and automotive industries. The book has become a critical catalyst for ethical sourcing debates, reflecting Kara’s signature approach of merging victim testimonies with supply chain analysis.

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@Pitiful

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"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."

@SofiaP

"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"

@Jaded_Falcon

201

"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."

@OojasSalunke

"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."

@Leo, Law Student, UPenn

483

"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"

@Cashflowbubu

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Chapter 8

Cobalt Red

OverviewOverview of Cobalt Red

One book. Many ways to hear it.

The Blood Behind Our Batteries: A Journey into Congo's Cobalt Mines

The Epicenter of Our Digital Lives

See every word as you hear it

From Toxic Pit to Shiny Showroom: Following the Cobalt Supply Chain

"Here It Is Better Not to Be Born": The Human Cost of Cobalt

Get more out of Cobalt Red

From Colony to Cobalt: Congo's Legacy of Exploitation

"If We Do Not Dig, We Do Not Eat": Inside Congo's Cobalt Mines

See every word as you hear it

The Devastating Health and Environmental Impact

"We Work in Our Graves": The True Cost of Our Digital Lives

Get more out of Cobalt Red

Toward a More Ethical Future

You made it to the end of Cobalt Red

Key Themes in Cobalt Red

Quotes from Cobalt Red

Characters in Cobalt Red

About the Author

Download Summary of Cobalt Red

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1,000,000+ curious minds.

1,000,000+ curious minds.

One book. Many ways to hear it.

The Blood Behind Our Batteries: A Journey into Congo's Cobalt Mines

The Epicenter of Our Digital Lives

See every word as you hear it

From Toxic Pit to Shiny Showroom: Following the Cobalt Supply Chain

"Here It Is Better Not to Be Born": The Human Cost of Cobalt

Get more out of Cobalt Red

From Colony to Cobalt: Congo's Legacy of Exploitation

"If We Do Not Dig, We Do Not Eat": Inside Congo's Cobalt Mines

See every word as you hear it

The Devastating Health and Environmental Impact

"We Work in Our Graves": The True Cost of Our Digital Lives

Get more out of Cobalt Red

Toward a More Ethical Future

You made it to the end of Cobalt Red

Users also liked

Discover more

Overview of Cobalt Red