BOOK VALUE metals early, investing across mining, processing and manufacturing while much of the West retreated from the difficult and politically risky work upstream. Companies such as CATL and BYD consequently occupy commanding positions in the battery market. Congo supplies the mineral wealth, but a much larger share of the industrial value is created elsewhere.
China recognised the strategic importance of battery metals early, investing across mining, processing..."
Corporate responses to abuse can appear startlingly removed from conditions on the ground. Elon Musk once proposed installing webcams at cobalt mines to monitor child labour. Niarchos observes that many children work outside the shafts, carrying sacks or searching through discarded material. A camera pointed at the mine entrance can’ t reveal a system it was never designed to see.
The reporting carried personal risk. While attempting to interview the Congolese warlord Gédéon, Niarchos and his Congolese colleague were detained and accused of spying. He describes passing a handwritten request for help to a stranger during a flight to Kinshasa. He was eventually expelled from the country.
The book’ s enormous reach is both its authority and its weakness. Niarchos moves through colonial history, battery chemistry, mining concessions, Chinese industrial policy, and superpower rivalry. The cast grows crowded and the narrative occasionally loses momentum. Yet the sprawl also reflects the architecture of the industry. Responsibility is dispersed across borders and contractors, allowing each participant to claim distance from the suffering upstream.
The Elements of Power offers more than a warning about ethical sourcing. It shows that control of processing, technology, infrastructure and intellectual property determines where prosperity accumulates. The energy transition may change the machinery of the global economy while preserving the old order. African countries supply the earth, while others capture and sell the value.
The reporter Nicolas Niarchos is a journalist specialising in energy, conflict, and migration. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, and The New York Times. He has testified before the US Congress on Congolese battery-metal mining, was shortlisted for a 2024 Livingston Award for reporting on mining in Indonesia, and won an Edward R Murrow Award for reporting from Ukraine. His detention and expulsion from Congo form part of The Elements of Power. sabusinessintegrator. co. za 79