The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the world’s largest cobalt producer, has launched an official investigation into reports that its cobalt exports, a major share of which goes to China, contain uranium levels above internationally accepted limits.
Cobalt is a key metal used to make batteries for electric cars and electronics, but new reports suggest that a significant level of uranium is being exported along with it.
The Reason for the Investigation
The decision by the DRC government comes after an investigation published by the Financial Times and Lighthouse Reports, as well as the Nature Communications journal.
According to the reports, Chinese companies had extracted and exported shipments of cobalt hydroxide containing significant quantities of uranium from the war-torn country.
