At least 32 artisanal miners died when a bridge gave way at a cobalt and copper site in Lualaba province, highlighting the lethal risks facing unregulated workers who supply a mineral central to the global green and tech economy.

A bridge collapse at a cobalt and copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has left dozens of miners dead, drawing renewed attention to the dangerous conditions facing people who dig up a mineral that powers smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles. Provincial authorities in Lualaba say at least 32 people were killed when a makeshift bridge failed on 15 November at the Kalando mine in the country’s southeast, while a government mining agency reports an even higher death toll.

According to local officials, the incident took place at a semi-industrial mine in the Kalando area of Lualaba province, where authorities had previously restricted access because heavy rains had made the terrain more unstable and increased the risk of landslides. Despite those warnings, small-scale miners continued to enter the site in search of cobalt and copper, joining the vast informal workforce that operates at the margins of the formal mining sector.

The DRC’s Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Support and Guidance Service, known by its French acronym SAEMAPE, reported that security forces posted at the site fired shots shortly before the bridge gave way. According to SAEMAPE, the gunfire triggered panic among the miners, who rushed onto an already unstable bridge structure. Officials say the crush of bodies caused the bridge to collapse, sending people tumbling and leaving many miners piled on top of one another, which contributed to the high number of deaths and injuries.

Lualaba’s provincial interior minister, Roy Kaumba, stated on television that at least 32 people were killed. SAEMAPE’s report, however, put the figure at a minimum of 40 deaths. Authorities appear to still be reconciling casualty figures, and there is no final public count of those injured or missing.

Those who died were described by officials as “wildcat” or artisanal miners – people who extract minerals without formal permits, regulation or labour protections. According to estimates cited by Congolese and international organisations, between 1.5 million and 2 million people work in similarly unregulated mining across the DRC. For many, digging is one of the few available livelihoods, even when it involves entering shafts and sites that lack basic safety measures.

At the time of the disaster, the Kalando mine was under military guard. Authorities had deployed security forces after previous clashes between wildcat miners and those controlling the site. According to media and official reports, there is an ongoing dispute involving the artisanal miners, a cooperative tasked with organising digging, and the mine’s legal operators, who are suspected of having links to Chinese companies. Analysts note that Chinese firms, alongside Western corporations, dominate much of the mining and processing infrastructure tied to Congo’s cobalt.

Cobalt is a key component in rechargeable batteries and other high-tech applications because of its magnetic properties, durability and ability to withstand high temperatures. The DRC is the world’s main source of the metal, supplying more than two-thirds of global cobalt demand. As governments and companies push to expand renewable energy and electric transport, demand for cobalt has surged, tightening the connection between the global energy transition and the lives of miners in places like Lualaba.

Rights groups and international institutions have long warned that the human cost of this supply chain is being pushed onto Congolese communities. Advocates say the unregulated cobalt sector typically operates with no enforceable labour laws, no reliable safety inspections and little accountability for mine owners or intermediaries. Reports from parliamentarians, NGOs and journalists have repeatedly documented child labour, deadly accidents and chronic health risks around mining hubs in the DRC.

Human rights researchers argue that this situation is sustained by a wider web of economic and political interests. According to critics, some government officials tolerate or ignore abusive conditions, while mining operators and multinational buyers benefit from low-cost cobalt that does not reflect the true social and environmental price. Investigations have described chains of intermediaries and middlemen, including actors linked to Chinese processing companies, who connect informal miners in Congo to factories abroad where electronics and battery components are manufactured.

The Human Rights Research Center (HRRC), which has been monitoring the fallout from the Kalando disaster, is urging governments, corporations and multilateral institutions to treat the collapse as a warning. The organisation has called for “binding standards for ethical cobalt sourcing” and for urgent steps to address what it describes as life-threatening and abusive conditions in both regulated and unregulated mining. According to HRRC, independent oversight, meaningful worker protections and stronger enforcement are essential if cobalt used in “green” technology is not to be stained by preventable deaths.

The bridge collapse at Kalando underlines a broader dilemma at the heart of the global transition away from fossil fuels. As campaigners point out, the world’s move toward cleaner energy and digital technologies is currently built on supply chains that often leave miners and their families exposed to extreme risk. Without stronger protections, those at the bottom of these chains are likely to keep bearing the heaviest costs of a transformation that is supposed to benefit the planet as a whole.

Authorities in Lualaba province have not yet announced any criminal charges in connection with the collapse. For now, officials say they are focused on recovering bodies, assisting families and clarifying how many people died. Human rights advocates argue that the next steps must go further: full, transparent investigations; effective regulation of semi-industrial and artisanal mines; and concrete commitments from companies that profit from Congolese cobalt to ensure that the drive for innovation and climate action does not come at the expense of miners’ lives and basic rights.

Source note: This article is based on reporting by the Human Rights Research Center, “The devastating toll of cobalt mining leaves over 32 dead in Congo,” published on December 3, 2025. Read the original story here: https://www.humanrightsresearch.org/post/the-devastating-toll-of-cobalt-mining-leaves-over-32-dead-in-congo