Chinese using a mobile phone in Beijing effectively manage cobalt mines in Africa by remote control: study
- Driven to secure cobalt supplies for EV production, China uses smart sensors, high-speed communication tech and live streams to control DRC mines
- Real-time monitoring sends data to Beijing, with an alert sounded if any unauthorised person approaches or tampers with it
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) produces 70 per cent of the world’s cobalt. More than 80 per cent of the DRC’s cobalt mines are now owned by Chinese companies, according to industrial estimates.
In recent years, China has had immediate access to the operational data from almost all the equipment on site in these mines, which are mostly in remote areas, thanks to the large-scale application of smart sensors and high-speed communication technology. A manager in Beijing, for instance, can learn the position, speed and load of each truck while sitting in a cafe in Beijing with a smartphone in hand.
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Cui Bing, a senior engineer overseeing the construction of digital mining infrastructure with the North Mining (also known as Norine) Limited company, said in a paper published in the domestic peer-reviewed journal Mining Technology last month that the system “also streams live video feeds collected by cameras at critical locations back to headquarters”, and that management in Beijing could give direct orders to local executives based on what happened on site.
