Executive Summary:

Linking the Bolivian Minerals to the European Industry

The Executive Summary is also available in Spanish and Dutch.

Introduction

Although indium might be a rare metal, it is not rare at all in your daily life. No smartphone can be produced without its use. Flatscreens, touchscreens, LED lights, photovoltaic panels and even the high efficiency glass of the windows in your house can contain this element.

Indium is a metal that has grown in importance since the 21st century. Lots of new technologies are based on its use, as it has the particular property of being transparent in thin coatings and still acting as an excellent conductor.

The source of this raw material is not always easy to track. The indium market is very opaque. This Executive Summary is part of a fact-finding mission by the European Union project ‘Make ICT Fair’. It tries to reveal a considerable part of the supply chain of indium by starting its research in the very beginning of the chain: a few mining cooperatives on the Bolivian highlands extracting silver-lead-zinc polymetallic ore; and it traces the supply chain beyond, feeding the European industry.

Supply Chain Summary:

• It is remarkable that official Bolivian data registers the export of indium as zero (MMM, 2019). This implies that neither the Bolivian miners nor the Bolivian state is paid for the extraction of this metal, indispensable for the technology of the 21th century.

• Bolivia is estimated as the 5th largest extractor of indium worldwide (Zapata, 2018).

• Bolivian silver-lead-zinc ores contain valuable concentrations of indium. 

• A first concentration of the zinc ore from the remaining rock is in some cases done by the mining cooperatives themselves or, if the cooperatives do not have the necessary equipment, it might be done by local traders.

• On an individual level or collectively with all members of the cooperative, the minerals are sold to local traders. Based on the analysis carried out on behalf of the local trader at the moment of sale, the miners are paid for their materials.

• The local traders then further supply some of the largest commodity traders in the world. The minerals from different suppliers can be mixed to provide the concentrations required by the international traders who manage the purchase contracts and set up the conditions of sale.

• Bolivian actors have no control over the treatment charges (TC) applied, which are set by a small international oligopoly of zinc refiners and commodity traders. No smelting of zinc ore takes place in Bolivia itself despite the completion of a metallurgical plant for refining these concentrates in 2013.

• After almost 500 kilometers of transport by truck, the freight arrives at Chilean ports.

• 13.000 kilometers by sea transport brings part of the exported concentrates to the port of Antwerp, Belgium.

• On average every year 150.000 tonnes of Bolivian zinc ore arrives at the Port of Antwerp (Eurostat, 2013-2019).

• The Bolivian zinc ores rich in indium are very likely processed in Auby (owned and operated by Nyrstar), where also indium is being refined. 

• Umicore refines rare metals in Belgium at its Hoboken and Olen metallurgical plants (both in Belgium – the company also operates in other countries). 

• Umicore bases its production processes on secondary sourcing, which consist of recycling or slag from other refiners, such as Nyrstar. It means that the waste from primary materials processed by other smelters are further processed at Umicore’s installations.

• The Hoboken based copper smelter, lead blast furnace and lead refinery perform the extraction of metals such as indium, selenium and tellurium. Also the Bolivian silver and lead can be further refined by the Hoboken complex.

• In 2018, the metallic indium and indium powders produced in France (Auby, Nyrstar) and Belgium (Hoboken, Umicore) were mainly exported to the United States of America, Japan and South Korea (Eurostat, 2020 – see Figure 11). Both countries represent 85% of the European Union export on indium. The articles of indium produced in Germany (where Umicore also has production facilities) are mainly exported to China.

• It is still very challenging to recover the indium from the recycling of the end products. It is estimated that only 1% of indium is recycled worldwide from end of product waste (UNEP, 2013) and inside the EU the rate for End-of-life Recycling was recently reported at 0% (EC, 2020).

• The production of indium in Belgium for the year 2018 was estimated at 22 tonnes (USGS, 2020). The export data of unwrought indium and indium powder equals 16 tonnes for 2018 (Eurostat, 2020).

• Since Nyrstar was taken over by Trafigura Group, a prominent international commodity trader, is it challenging to track exactly where the flow of indium from the Auby smelter (in France) goes to. Two companies in France produce intermediary products of indium.

• In general flat-panel displays are by far the most frequent application for indium, making up for 60% of its end-use.

Conclusion: 

The EU’s Due Diligence framework is not working and will not work because it lacks four key components, that are necessary in order to avoid the ongoing human rights violations and environmental damage: 

1. It is not comprehensive; the EU’s Due Diligence framework lacks detailed information that can allow a standardised or homogenous way for its implementation (e.g., What is the list of requirements to decide if the case studied is in a CHARAs?). 
2. There is no transparency; there is no mandatory, defined structure for the companies to collect the data and make it accessible to the public so anyone can check its veracity. 
3. There is no accountability towards workers and communities, there is no way for other involved local actors to add more information about the local mining or metallurgical site besides the company itself. 
4. There is no governing body; no institutions have the mandate to take decisions on Due Diligence, nobody is able to monitor its implementation, no one can enforce or request anything about it.

Minor metals like indium, which are increasingly needed in the ICT industry, are extracted mainly as a by-product of the processing of ores rich in base metals such as zinc, lead and copper. In order to understand and track the supply chain of these scarce metals, it is necessary to start working from the extraction sites.

Taking into account the complexity and opacity in the industrial sectors, the existing approach based on the tracking of supply chains from the consumer end-products cannot reach the original sources of the raw materials being used. Therefore, it is neglecting the problems occurring in the first stages of the supply chain.

Recommendations:

There are few smelters and refining facilities in the world that have the technical know-how and metallurgical capacity to recover these metals. Therefore, a fairer and responsible supply chain would be today already possible if sufficient efforts were being made in the setting up of obligatory monitoring frameworks between the competent public institutions (at national and supranational levels) and the very few refiners and commodity traders dominating the market. The establishment of monitored supply chains is necessary if end-product consumers – whether from the public sector or the private – want to stop human rights violations, and prevent increasing environmental damage in the early stages of metal supply chains

The Bolivian State needs international transparency and supportive tracking systems in order to enforce its own legislation to tax minerals rich in indium – and other valuable rare metals it may be exporting – that currently leave Bolivian borders without any financial contribution. Without royalties for their minerals, the Bolivian Administration will hardly be able to independently afford the costs of the social and environmental services that mining activities cause in the short and long terms. This socio-environmental debt shouldn’t be left in the Bolivian hands alone, but corporations profiting from these minerals have to contribute to the mitigation and remediation of the ongoing human rights violations and environmental pollution included in the minerals they purchase, process and sell.

In summary, these are the authors key recommendations:

• • The creation of a fair supply chain is urgent and needs the collaboration between public bodies that can legislate and enforce the law, international monitoring institutions that can report on the supply chains and community-based organisations that can give local information to contrast the data provided by the companies.
  • Traders that cannot guarantee transparency on how the production of metals meets human rights and environmental standards, should not be able to sell in the international market, especially not EU companies. But first we need a legal structure to collect, access and monitor that information.
  • Tax contribution by the companies exporting indium-rich minerals should be reported to and requested by the Bolivian state.
  • The refining process of zinc and indium should be taking place in Bolivia to generate the added value locally and to cover the costs of remediating the environmental damage of the mining activities. It would also avoid the negative effects of the global transport of heavy mineral concentrates.
  • Bolivia should implement the mitigation of its historical tailings at sites rented to cooperatives and enforce the treatment of wastewater from acid drainage. The Government has to ensure access to water as a fundamental right; water for domestic and agricultural use should always be prioritised over extractive and industrial activities. 

The current situation also gives the large companies involved the ability to make a real difference through their sourcing process, by taking responsibility along their supply chain and by being transparent with their customers.

ICT products are the result of many actors throughout a long and complex mix of supply chains in several countries. Therefore, governments need to implement an appropriate global framework that can track this complexity and stop environmental damage and human rights violations wherever they occur. However, industrial efforts will still be required to drive the necessary change towards fair and responsible metal(s) production.

Read the Research in full here.

This article is part of the European Commission funded project “Make ICT Fair – Reforming Manufacture & Minerals Supply Chains through Policy, Finance & Public Procurement”.

CATAPA is one of its 11 co-applicants, which also include the University of Edinburgh (UK), Electronics Watch, Südwind (Austria), People and Planet (UK), SETEM Catalunya (Spain) and Swedwatch (Sweden), among others. The project aims to mobilise EU citizens, decision makers & ICT purchasers/procurers working in the EU Public Sector to improve the conditions of workers & communities along the ICT sector.

Make ICT Fair

Webinar Series 2020: Sustainable ICT Future?

In these dynamic and challenging times, when digitalisation is an urgent and quickly progressing phenomenon, the discussion about the sustainability of our electronic devices is timelier than ever.

Three years after launching the project Make ICT Fair, some of the main partners (CATAPA, Swedwatch, CEE Bankwatch Network and the University of Edinburgh), together with KU Leuven and with the support of Fair ICT Flanders, organized three webinar sessions, in order to present the most relevant research conducted since the beginning of the project.

The webinars which took place on the 28th of September and the 1st & 2nd of October 2020 did not only aim to sensibilise public institutions and private consumers on the subject of human rights violations, environmental impact and labour rights in the ICT Sector, but also put forward policy recommendations and initiated an open dialogue with the industry itself. Some of the highlights included the results from the last 3 intensive years of research, capacity building and campaigning.

In what follows, we have tried to summarize the most important conclusions on what is still missing in terms of legislation, implementation and transparency in the minerals supply chain for electronics.

At the bottom of this page you can find a key reflections and recommendations summary.

You can watch the Make ICT Fair Webinar Series here

Challenges in the Copper Supply Chain

The first webinar on 28. September focused on the supply chain of copper, which despite being excluded from the current EU Conflict Mineral Regulation list, is a vital component in many ICT devices.

Moderated by Charlotte Christiaens, an experienced coordinator at CATAPA, the first to present was Linda Scott Jakobsson, a researcher for the not-for-profit organisation Swedwatch and the main author of the report “Copper with a cost”. The presentation centred around a fact-finding mission in Zambia, which included a visit to one of the largest open-pit mines in Africa. Linda emphasized the high-risk context in the country, due to weak public institutions, low enforcement of law, high poverty and corruption. Therefore, in spite of holding the largest copper reserve in Africa, the majority of Zambia`s population does not benefit from the richness of minerals. What is more, large-scale copper mining comes with a high price of environmental pollution and human rights violation: soil contamination, water pollution and abandoned local communities among others. The main conclusion put forward was that the scope of the new European conflict minerals legislation coming into force in 2021 is too limited and the current mining practices completely contradict the EU`s Sustainable Development Goals. Linda also prompted the mining companies and ICT brands to take responsibility of improving waste management, restoring livelihoods of the affected communities and assuring transparency in ICT supply chain.

The second investigation was presented by Daniel Popov, who is a national campaigner for Bulgaria at the CEE Bankwatch Network. The focus of his investigation was Dundee Precious Metals Inc., which currently owns the Chelopech mining project in Bulgaria and the smelter facility in Namibia. In this case study the connection between the global supply chain illustrated how European toxic pollution is being exported to Africa and how corporate logic causes big environmental impact due to transporting materials all over the world in order to avoid unfavourable legislation and minimize costs.

The main issues in the case study which Daniel closely examined were missing permits and documentation for the dumping site of Namibia`s smelting facility, bad communication with the company, as well as health risks like arsenic poisoning among the local population. Nevertheless, the striving for continuous dialogue and putting pressure on the company and the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), which was investing in the project, led to promising results like the modernization of the Namibian smelter, better management of the hazardous waste facility and detailed studies on soil and underground waters pollution. Daniel Popov concluded his presentation with the critical reflection that the extraction and treatment of the metal ores more often than not has human health implications and leads to environmental degradation, while the transparency of the minerals supply chain still needs major improvements.

At the end of this first webinar, Dr. Xiaohua Li (PHD researcher in the SOLVOMET Group at KU Leuven) offered everybody a more scientific perspective on the technological innovations regarding the primary copper extraction. She introduced us to the solvometallurgy, a more environmental friendly and low energy consumption alternative for current copper primary production. This insteresting field is producing promising results, however the results are still based on the laboratory research and need to be applied at a larger scale, in order to become more viable for industrial implmentation.

Artisanal and Small-scale Mining in a Fair Global Supply Chain

During the second session of the webinars, the participants gained important insights into the topic of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and its significant role in the global supply chain for electronics.

The webinar was moderated by Piet Wostyn, who is currently a project manager at the KU Leuven SIM². The critical introduction to the topic was prepared by Boris Verbrugge, a senior researcher at HIVA (KU Leuven). He reminded the attendees that the phenomenon of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is no longer an opportunity to get rich easily and nowadays “the key driving factors of the ASM expansion are poverty and subsistence needs, mostly in developing countries”. The main issue, which Boris pointed out is the “indecent work”: hazardous, informal and often underpaid, but often seen as emancipatory for the local population. At the end of his presentation, he mentioned the existing legislative frameworks like conflict free minerals (against funding armed conflicts) in the EU and other initiatives like the Fair Trade Gold or Clean Gold (cyanide and mercury free), which unfortunately are not always common place initiatives among the small-scale miners or where decent working conditions are not a reality. To end on a positive note, Boris mentioned “a new generation of sustainable mineral supply chain initiatives” like the Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA), which tries to situate the ASM within the entire supply chain and relies on working closely together with the local communities.

The second speaker, Prof. Erik Smolders (environmental chemist and professor at the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering at KU Leuven) presented some of the many case studies he conducted during his long career with a main focus on exposure and health assessments around cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  One of the most important discoveries he shared during the webinar was that the main pathway of human exposure to cobalt in DRC is the dust, due to the extraordinary high ingestion levels in the region. Furthermore, Prof. Smolders drew our attention to the multiple negative health and social impacts of metal mining. However, he finished his intervention with the reflection that despite of being a very important metal for our future technologies, we still don`t know the true risks of cobalt extraction at larger scale.

Finally, Alberto Vázquez Ruiz, Project Coordinator for NEMO at CATAPA and researcher in the Make ICT Fair project, discussed his research mission in Oruro (Bolivia), where mainly zinc-silver-lead ore and tin are extracted. During his stay in one of the biggest mining regions in the country, Alberto observed the reality of environmental issues (river contamination with arsenic and decreasing levels of ground water), which have destroyed many of the local communities, not able to live from agriculture anymore and forced to join the mining sector in order to provide for their families. However, the structure of artisanal and small-scale mining is very specific, based on the cooperative model, which Alberto described as a ¨system of self-exploitation¨, where the workers do not comply with the minimum safety standards and survive on living wages.

At the end of his presentation, Alberto uncovered the link between the Bolivian export of metal ores and the European ICT Sector: “The zinc concentrate coming from Bolivia is one of the world’s richest in indium and indium tin oxide is part of the ICT industry: all the flat screens, LCD, touch screen have a very thin layer of indium tin oxide”. Alberto Vázquez Ruiz ended his presentation with some decisive conclusions: the due diligence process is currently not being implemented in the ICT Sector, but the traders do have the complete data to do so and that requesting it does not imply a lot of resources are needed. Therefore, his clear message to all the private sector companies is: ¨Your company can drive a real change, because nobody in the zinc, lead or indium sector is doing any better”.

Trade Union Rights in the Global Electronics Industry: The Case of Indonesia

Last, but not least, the third session of our webinar series examined the right to organise in the global electronics industry, with a special focus on Indonesia. This last session was moderated by Dave Gorman, director of the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability at The University of Edinburgh. The first speaker, Jeroen Merk, is currently a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh as part of the Make ICT Fair project. He interpreted the concept of freedom of association as a fundamental workers right, but often facing multiple barriers like the nature of the industrial production, political repression and corporate resistance. Moreover, Jeroen emphasized that “most electronics manufacturing takes place in countries that undermine or repress the workers’ capacity to freely organise¨. His main reflection was that even though Indonesia provides a few optimistic developments, especially compared to other electronics producing nations like China or the US, the country still has to overcome many barriers.

The following presentation came from Hari Nugroho, lecturer at the Department of Sociology of the Universitas Indonesia. Hari first talked about the Indonesian trade union transformation after the fall of the authoritarian regime in 1998, which brought both democratisation and economic restructuring with new challenges like precarious labour and flexible work.  Focusing on his case study of the metal trade union (FSPMI) in the region of Bekasi, Hari Nugroho concluded with the remark: “In comparison to many Asian countries, the [Indonesian] trade unions` achievements in two decades are remarkable, but neoliberal agencies constantly encourage market flexibility, increasing precariousness and eroding union power.”

Finally, Fahmi Panimbang, a labour researcher and activist at the Sedane Labour Resource Centre (LIPS) provided critical feedback about the situation of the workers in the electronics production sites. Fahmi pointed out that the concept of Freedom of association is often insufficiently implemented in Indonesia, due to the lacking will from big technological companies, which “try to suppress the workers and limit their space to speak up”. According to Fahmi, one of the most urgent issues at the ICT assembly and production sites are the occupational health and safety standards. During his presentation, Fahmi Panimbang revealed that many workers in the electronics industry died or become ill due to the use of toxic and hazardous chemicals at the production sites. What is more, the medical check-ups conducted every year are often used as a reason to dismiss very ill workers.

Our most important reflections and recommendations:

• The transparency of the ICT supply chain needs to be improved considerably, since it is still very difficult to monitor the safety, health and environmental standards in the small mining communities, which are the weakest link in the sector.

• Artisanal and small-scale mining currently provides a significant part of the global primary mine input, with a big percentage of the poorest population depending on it. Therefore, any future initiative on improving the current situation should be done in a collaboration with the affected communities and accompanied by social measures.

• The revised EU Conflict Minerals Regulation coming into force in 2021 urgently needs to be widened in scope and not just include 4 minerals (tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold), because there are 75 elements present in a smartphone.

• Making the Human Rights Due Diligence and Sustainable Supply Chains legislation mandatory inside the EU could be an important step forward, but it should not just apply for smelters and refineries importing minerals to the EU market, but also to the ones producing the finished product: all the large technology brands and other electronics companies should be forced to report on these issues.

We would like to express our special thanks to the graphic illustrator Iris Maertens, who invested a lot of inspiration and motivation to create beautiful visual recordings of our webinar series.

CHANGE MAKER PROGRAMME:

Changemakers for Degrowth – Re-thinking (Metal) Consumption

6th October, 24th October & 21st November

Registration

Introduction

Organized by CATAPA, this year the series of events will be dedicated to the topic of Degrowth. In three separate sessions (one online, one in Ghent and one in Brussels), we are aiming to introduce this year’s participants into the topic of Degrowth, the impacts of big scale mining and metal consumption (focus: our ICT), as well as equip them with the necessary tools and strategies to construct a more conscious and just society. 

You can find the full programme below.

De-mine, De-growth and Move

As a global movement, striving towards social and ecological justice, CATAPA has long recognized the natural boundaries of our finite planet and continuously denounces the ongoing exploitation of non-renewable resources. By not only striving against mining, but also actively looking for alternatives to it, our movement demands putting the well-being of all people(s) first. Therefore, we want to be a driving force in the transition to degrowth; a socially just economic system, which represents an essential part of our vision and mission.

Provisional Programme

6 October 2020 (19:00 – 20:30) – Introductory Online Session

• Introduction to CATAPA
• Small presentation of the topic of the trajectory
• Introductory round for our participants
• Overview and planning of the trajectory

24 October 2020 (10:00 – 17:30) at Geuzenhuis, Ghent – Two content sessions and one interactive workshop

• Session on ‘Degrowth and Extractivism’ by journalist Nick Meynen
• Session on ‘Mining in Colombia & Cosajuca’s Biological Agriculture Project as an (Degrowth) alternative to extractivism’ by Jonas Adriaensens (CATAPA) 
• Online Campaigning Training Session

21 November 2020 (10:00 – 17:30) in Brussels (exact location TBA) – A Latin American perspective on Degrowth and more

• Session on ‘Buen Vivir & activism strategies’ by Dayana Corzo Joya
• Degrowth best practices
• Games, discussions and more…

Optional: 11. – 13. December 2020 (Movement Weekend in Lokeren) 

This is a weekend for everyone who wants to be more involved in CATAPA and see how we mix the concepts of Degrowth, mining and ICT in our working. Together we will brainstorm about future activities and take part in some movement-enhancing sessions, including a session on sustainable activism. 

More information about this we will communicate soon via the Facebook event. 

Price

€10 (2 x €5 per training day): to cover lunch costs. (The price of the movement weekend isn’t included in this amount. The price for that will be around €35). You’ll receive instructions for payment after inscription. 

For drinks we will ask €1. 

How to inscribe? 

You can inscribe yourself through this link 

Keep in mind that places are limited. This means that we expect you to go to all three events (on 6.10, 24.10 & 21.11). 

COVID-measures

The two training days will be organized in line with the current COVID-measures applicable on Belgian territory. Most importantly: everyone will need to keep 1.5 meter distance from any other participant and wear a face mask at all times (except while eating and drinking when seated). 

*All locations mentioned above are accessible by wheelchair, if you have other questions about accessibility please feel free to send an email to info@catapa.be.

*In this training trajectory there is no room for sexism, racism, trans- or LGBT-phobia and other forms of hate.

This event is organised with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this event are the sole responsibility of CATAPA and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.