![]() ![]() To reduce friction and drag in the intake and tail shaft Taylor had to devise a method of drilling in the granite that would ensure a smooth vertical wall. It was one of the most impressive site around Cobalt during the hayday of the Air Plant. The excess air blows out 10 feet below the surface of the Montreal River resulting in a geyser plume that often reaches 200 feet in the air. When more compressed air, than can be used, builds up in the chamber the water level in the tunnel is forced down exposing the end of a 12 inch release pipe. (The photo at the right is of shaft #8 it has a pencil sketch on the back presumably by Charles Taylor that was done on site.) There is a total of 21 miles of seamless pipe used for the movement of air to the various mines. The air is transported to the mines via a seamless pipe, imported from Germany, specific to this project. Here it passes into a valve house and is distributed to the mines of Cobalt. The air, under pressure, in the pocket below ground is tapped off by a 24 inch diameter steel pipe and brought to the surface. Once at the surface it continues down the Montreal River. A 298 foot tail shaft by 22 feet in diameter returns the water to the surface. The rushing water slows down in this tunnel and the air collects along the roof at approximately 120 p.s.i. This tunnel is 20 feet wide and 26 feet high, at the far end a bulge in the ceiling increases the height to 42 feet. When the water reaches the bottom of the shaft, it is diverterted into a 1021 foot long horizontal tunnel by a steel sheathed concrete cone. Water backed up behind the 660 foot wide dam swirls down through these pipes carrying air with it. At the top of this shaft are twin intake heads each containing 72 intake pipes, 16 inches in diameter. The lower 40 feet widens to 11 and 1/2 feet in diameter. The feeder shaft, 351 feet deep and 9 and 1/2 feet in diameter was sunk into the bedrock. ![]() He said what he saw in Kolwezi shocked him more than anything he'd seen before, as "the severity and scale of human degradation and exploitation at the bottom of global supply chains, it just really shook me."Īt mine sites he visited, "people were caked in toxic filth, children caked in toxic grime and filth and scrounging in pits, trenches and tunnels to gather cobalt bearing ore and feed it up the supply chain," he said.Ragged Chutes was Charles most ambitious project and his greatest success. Siddharth Kara is a researcher in modern slavery and recently published a book on the cobalt rush. Department of Labor added lithium-ion batteries to a list of goods produced by child labor, specifically because of children involved in the mining of cobalt in the country. Mine collapses have caused hundreds of deaths and injuries. Artisanal mining is often done with no personal protective equipment, in chaotic conditions. Photos: The city of Kolwezi in satellite images from 20, shows the rapid expansion of cobalt mines.īut this shadow economy is often dangerous and rife with human rights violations, observers said. ![]() Satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs shows the dramatic growth of copper and cobalt mines in and around Kolwezi over the last 5 years as demand has skyrocketed. The Biden administration in January released a memorandum of understanding with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring Zambia, outlining plans to help strengthen the African countries' EV battery supply chain. But now, the world is turning to it for its essential role in lithium-ion batteries for phones and electric vehicles, or EVs. Cobalt, which is mainly produced as a byproduct of copper and nickel, was ignored for a long time in favor of those more in-demand minerals. The Democratic Republic of the Congo produces an estimated 70% of the world's cobalt, and most of it comes from the city of Kolwezi. LONDON - As officials around the world call for a transition to a greener economy, one city is being transformed to accommodate the growing demand for one important mineral: cobalt.
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