Twenty-seven Congo residents are suing a Chinese-controlled cobalt mine for $6.3 million over alleged pollution. Cobalt goes into phone and car batteries.
Twenty-seven residents of Congo have sued a cobalt mining company, saying its mine polluted their air and water. They want $6.3 million. Eight of the people suing are children. The company denies the claims and says it will fight the case in court.
The money is split in two. About $1.3 million is for alleged harm to the residents. Another $5 million is meant to pay for cleaning up and restoring the environment. The case was filed at the Commercial Court in Kolwezi.
Two groups are backing the lawsuit: RAID, a UK-based corporate watchdog, and AFREWATCH, a Congolese nonprofit. Studies they commissioned found high levels of particulate pollution (tiny particles in the air) and water contamination near the mine.
The mine is run by COMMUS. China's Zijin Mining owns 67% of it. The Congolese state-owned firm Gecamines and the government hold smaller stakes.
COMMUS denies all the allegations. In July 2026, it said its operations followed Congolese environmental rules. It suggested that older mining and natural geology could explain some of the pollution.
The suit also names the Congolese government and its environmental regulator, ACE. It accuses them of failing to monitor the mine and enforce standards.
Congo is Africa's largest cobalt producer. Cobalt is used in phone and electric car batteries, so the cost of mining it can reach the products and companies people rely on. The material does not say which products use cobalt from this mine.
Under Congo's 2018 Mining Code, companies can be held liable for environmental damage unless they show the harm came from unrelated causes. That rule could shape how the case plays out.
Similar cases have not always ended in big payouts. In 2014, a court in Kipushi ordered a mining company, Gecamines and the government to pay $6,000 to victims over a polluted river. The victims' lawyers called that inadequate. A 2023 suit near Kolwezi against Kalongwe Mining was still at an early stage as of March 2024.
No hearing date or ruling has been reported in this case. Chinese-owned mining firms have also faced pollution claims in Zambia, Guinea and Zimbabwe.
A court case over alleged pollution at a Congo cobalt mine shows that the human and environmental cost of battery materials is now being tested in court.
A Kuala Lumpur firm now sells a SGD 1,500 check of what ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google say about a named executive, after its founder's own test found mix-ups.
Read more: New Audit Checks What AI Chatbots Say About Business LeadersA former Nvidia product manager has started Udu Technologies to let African startups and institutions rent AI computing power instead of buying it.
Read more: Ex-Nvidia engineer starts company to bring AI computing power to AfricaEA has re-released 25 classic PC games at a discount until November 19, and Bethesda has finally given The Elder Scrolls VI a subtitle: Sentinel.
Read more: EA brings 25 classic PC games back, and Elder Scrolls VI gets a name
