The Biden administration should rescind a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) it has with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Zambia to develop foreign mineral supply chains — countries that U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) says have suspect records in terms of environmental standards, child and slave labor, and corruption.
“Your MOU with the DRC and Zambia validates and rewards these conditions, endangers our national security supply chains, and signals to the world that your State Department’s energy goals are more important than the basic rights of the people who currently supply cobalt to the international marketplace,” Rep. Stauber wrote in a Feb. 23 letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“If this administration were serious about invigorating mineral supply chains, you should be looking right here in America and unlocking our own vast mineral wealth,” he wrote, pointing out that the United States has abundant mineral resources, a capable workforce, and strong environmental and labor standards.
In fact, his Minnesota district contains 95 percent of America’s nickel; 88 percent of the nation’s cobalt; and more than one-third of U.S. copper, along with many other platinum group elements, according to his letter.
“It is past time that America be self-reliant for our mineral needs,” he wrote. “Instead, the Biden administration chose the Congo and Zambia over places like Minnesota, Alaska, Arizona, and Nevada to supply our minerals.”
Rep. Stauber expressed particular concerns about the DRC, where Amnesty International estimates roughly 40,000 child slaves work as artisanal miners to produce the cobalt needed for daily life worldwide, and where China controls 15 of the country’s 19 mines.
“Let’s be clear — the Biden administration is choosing the Congolese cobalt supply chain, which is tainted with child slave labor over American resources mined by American workers,” the lawmaker wrote.
Rep. Stauber asked Blinken to answer several questions, including what actions the administration will take to ensure that the minerals covered by the MOU and funded by U.S. taxpayers will not be sourced using child and/or slave labor, and what assurances he can make that stringent environmental standards are being followed in these mines, among others.
“The American people deserve clear answers as to why this decision was made and why they chose to invest taxpayer dollars in foreign countries for minerals we have right here in the United States,” he wrote.