Twenty-seven residents of Kolwezi, a major copper and cobalt mining hub in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, have taken Chinese-controlled mining company COMMUS to court, accusing it of polluting their water, air and soil and putting their health and livelihoods at risk. The lawsuit against Compagnie Minière de Musonoie Global (COMMUS), controlled by Chinese mining giant Zijin Mining, was announced in a Nov. 3 statement by human rights organizations Afrewatch and RAID, which are supporting the plaintiffs. The case raises questions about the environmental and human costs of industrial mining in the DRC, one of the world’s leading producers of copper and cobalt, minerals essential to technologies used in the global energy transition. For residents living near COMMUS’s operations, the dispute is about more immediate concerns: access to clean water, deteriorating health and the loss of livelihoods that once depended on local waterways. “COMMUS found us living here. Before, we lived well,” said one resident, who was quoted anonymously in the statement. “We used to fish, vegetables grew naturally along the stream, and we used its water for cooking and washing. But COMMUS polluted our stream, blocked it and diverted its course,” the resident said. The resident alleged that fish had disappeared from the stream, that the water now caused skin problems and that exposure to the surrounding air produced facial irritation. “We asked the authorities to come and see what was happening, but we never received any help,” the resident said. The first hearing took place Nov. 3 before…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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