for smartphones smart, how can today's global hunger for lithium cobalt and more the satisfied me ah ah ah ah, ah, ah ah, ah, ah, ah, what the battery's smartphones and even cosmetics have in common. right. they all

contain silicon rare earth methods, lithium, and other such elements. yes, they do even cosmetics. but the bigger issue is in most places, these elements are not readily available and mining them often harms the environment. so today we look at the race for critical raw materials or come to made. now has something to note down june. the 12th is the united nations world today against child labor. to day almost $1.10 of all children worldwide are engaged in child labor. and often they work in hazardous environments like mining the kinds of raw materials we need to keep up our way of life. micah is a group of minerals, houston, electronics, pains, and cosmetics. not only does it add an attractive shimmer to cosmetics, it's also a good conductor of heat and an electrical insulator. but very often, children are involved in mining it. good,

ah, come al, debbie and her 5 year old son round you turned the earth in search of mica. the glittering mineral plays a vital role in this region's economy. for many people mining, the raw material is the only way to survive. children working for hours in the blistering sun in the indian state of john, and it's nothing out of the ordinary toward that at the lat. della glad. i think my children are so young, but there's no other way of making a living here. there's no farming, nothing that i can't afford to send them to school. i was they have to help me had that though, but they managed to to 2 and a half keel as a day and then that we work until 5 in the evening. was it that they used to be more than 700 official mica mines in northern india, but in 1980, a new law came in to force banning deforestation that made it almost impossible to access new sources of the mineral, the companies left,

but the mines remained to day some 50000 adults and children worker illegally. almost all the workers are darling to occupy the lowest rung in the indian cast system. many a members of indigenous tribes who are socially marginalized because there is little in the way of industry in the area. people are reliant on the minds. a kilogram of my car can bring up to the equivalent of 20 euro cents, but often they receive just half of that. middleman clean the mineral enlarge filter, drums, the platelets are then count into varying sizes. this is how it enters the market. the word micah describes a group of naturally occurring silicate materials that are rigid, yet at the same time, elastic. many industries use the mineral in huge quantities among them, the cosmetic sector. a

few years ago anna maria jaeger and her husband chi, founded their company lethal cosmetics. the ag stress that all the ingredients the firm uses are vegan and ethically sourced. in other words, they guarantee no animal testing was involved in production and no child labor. one of the key raw materials lethal cosmetics uses is micah, some of it comes from india. here we have 3 different types of mica and a deserve. i example of a sparkly version and which also has a jo, comedic effect to it. and what is great about, as i said, it's face barclay, but it's completely natural. so it's free from any plastics. lawyers can't imagine making their cosmetics without micah. that's why they decided to hand pick their supplier in india. they chose the distributor who was able to

provide assurances that his micah only comes from minds that don't use child labor . although in the sector it's often difficult to determine where the material originated with our suppliers. it one supplier that often the manufacturer that also works directly with the minds and also of the audits of the mines and has been independently audited as well. and that is where we gained that confidence. mike is used in a wide range of applications. the biggest buyer in 2015 in terms of market value was the electronics industry followed by companies that added the mineral to paints . and like, as mike also finds widespread use in the construction industry. and of course, it plays an important role in the cosmetic sector. every day come on debbie and her son toil away to help satisfy the global hunger.

for micah, they never have any problem selling what they've collected to one of many traders. if they receive a $150.00 rupees, a little under 2 euros, then it's a good day. she says, that's enough to buy some vegetables and rice. but for that everyone has to pitch in, including both her daughter's aged $7.00 and $9.00. what was the average and i'm always afraid when i'm working that i'll be bitten by insects or snakes or that i'll fall into a pit. oh, it's clump i family. i'd really like to go to school. i was gone, but we need money. i have, we don't even have our own house. so i have to collect micah and unambiguous law has been in place in india since 2016. no child under the age of 14 is allowed to work. but the government itself concedes that around $12000000.00 children and young people are doing just that. aid organization's estimate, there are around $44000000.00 child labor. as in india,

it thought that around 22000 children are working in illegal mines in the states of john kind and b ha. many of them have never known a life without work. because of their size, they're all for me to crawl into freshly dog unsecured pits and shafts. oh, i know i'm always afraid when i'm looking for mica. not long ago over there, 2 or 3 children of my age were buried in one of the shafts. and they died. i can't, i want to go to school. i don't want this region. and for companies that work with micah products, it's a perpetual balancing act between marketing and morals, business and conscience at lethal cosmetics in berlin. the yag is

a trying to tackle the issue head on wherever possible. they want to know exactly where they have raw materials are coming from. they also don't try to conceal from that customers that they use mica, entire regions of india that are financially dependent on micah. and so if you replace something, for example, something synthetic, you basically taking away their livelihood. so i think it's absolutely within our responsibility. of course is also within the responsibility of everybody in the chain to make sure that it's producing ethically as well. the cosmetics industry is very secretive when it comes to micah 2017 saw the launch of the responsible micah initiative, an alliance of companies obtaining micah from india. they all say they have a clear go to end child labor in the mines by 2022. but an interview on the subject, a camera. well, all are requests including those sent to big industry names like mag,

the clarence group and a global o'shea were turned down. if you ask the miners or jack and how to solve the problem, they say genuine change can only come if mining is once again officially allowed. because that's the only way to offer workers clear safety standards and a fair wage. then their children wouldn't have to work. some politicians have been demanding the reintroduction of official mining for a long time. now did the now be my lord, as you can see that all the labourers here are giving their sweat and blood on their breaking their bones. but what kind of life is this? you not? you forget like is it a government? can't just look the other way. the modern don't we deserve better than this? we dealt with lynn. and all this toil, so that the rest of the world can use not only cosmetics, but also devices like smartphones, a couldn't exist without rare earth. they used to create the vibration,

for example, and to display vivid colors. so ratliff elements are in huge demand worldwide. but reserves are finite. did you know there is gold in your smartphone? but don't go smashing it with a hammer. it's just a tiny amount of fraction of a ground. but still with your device also contains 16 of the 17 rare earth elements. they are what makes the smartphone smart. for example, new damien dispos, him and praise your damien, make it vibrate and turbine produces a vivid colors and the display around half of the world's population now has a smartphone. and with the number growing rapidly demand for rare earths is set to rise. the good news is that rare earth orange in fact all that where

the bad news is that mining them is difficult and bag for the environment. and reserves are finite. the supplier somewhere herbs could be exhausted in just a few decades. so what can we do about it? well, you could keep your smartphone for longer. and when you do get a new one, have the old where recycled? oh, wow, my smartphone is sir. hold on. yes, um, i think i think it is 8 or 9 years old. wow. guess in terms of the environment i'm doing pretty good. if using a device that runs on lithium ion battery is really is environmentally friendly. i know that those batteries are crucial for the car industry to move away from fossil fuels. electron mobility is the buzzword that how green are these batteries really? and what happens to them after they've been used, let's find out. ah,

in 2019 john. good enough, stanley whittingham and kiera, you see no jointly won the nobel prize and chemistry. the discovery please out, lloyd, it has led to a dramatic change in our society. they invented and developed a technology that most of us use every day, often without even noticing. it's in a earbuds, smartphones, laptop, computers caught las vacuum cleaners and electric scooters. it's this the lithium ion battery. this technology is key to us driving around without burning fossil fuels. but what does it take to make all these batteries? what do we do with them once they're spent? and why on earth are we playing with lego in this video? let's find out. oh,

the automobile has brought comforts and independence to the lives of billions of people. but scuttling ever growing amounts of fossil fuels has also taken its toll on the climate. we have an energy gra, thanks to lithium ion battery. we might now be entering a new iraq mobility because of the high energy density that perfect and electric vehicles. for a relatively tiny package, they pack a big punch. the lithium ion battery has really enable many paul song. i mean day compensation. this is hans eric melon. he founded a research and consulting firm focusing on lithium ion batteries. if i ever thing in mobility, lithium ion battery is i would say they have been a key technology or really the potential is so big in that sector we, we get some such a scale in the,

in the production. and that brings the cost down of the batter is the global fleet of electric vehicles is predicted to grow immensely of the next decade from around $8000000.00 to $116000000.00. this means the demand for lithium ion batteries will also shoot up, and this is where we might run into some problems. of course, it has a cost. we need materials to produce about race and in any extract of industry has an impact on the environment. lithium is su, probably guessed pretty central to making the lithium ion battery. about 50 percent of the world's reserve of this alkali metal can be found here, and the so called lithium triangle across argentina, bolivia, and chilly mining. it involves pumping salt water from underground lakes into pools and letting it evaporate. a process that could harm the surrounding soil drain water supplies, and contaminate the air. also, lithium is finite. the study found we could run into serious trouble by mid century

. if demand keeps growing like this, then there's cobalt that also goes into lithium ion batteries. it's a metal mainly found the democratic republic of the congo. it's mining has often been linked to inhumane working conditions and child labor people exposed to it have suffered from lung disease or hot problems. they have also the energy that is required to make the batteries. and especially production of cells require la vantage. and this means c o 2 emissions. how much exactly really depends on the electricity mix of the producing country. but according to recent figures, making just a small battery for a colleague. this could cause more than 4 tons of c o 2. to give you an idea that's like driving a new diesel kabul in the u for about 33000 kilometers. the good news is that emissions are thinking, as battery production becomes more efficient and we shift towards cleaner energy

sources. so the bad news is that the batteries are losing capacity over time. so as there are more and more movies that will also be more and more spent batteries, how do we deal with them? they should be connected and silicon recombined and we used in different countries as in different applications. this is ada kong. she's worked on a report about this for greenpeace east asia. the battery is that it can be used in electric vehicles. essentially. it's per powerful when they're used for like 5 or 8 years that couldn't really matter. that needs a car. they said you have enough performance for a function. that's right. we can give spend car batteries a 2nd life, for example, that can be turned into energy storage for windows solar. they could also power you next camping trip, and they still have enough juice left to drive a forklift or a boat and discuss it. if the batteries are already used for all these things today, wish it

a manual. and i spank off that materials by reusing hasta, using up a regional function of products. they could be recycled to roll tiers and to produce new products. let's get out the lego to understand how lithium ion batteries get recycled. it often involve smelting so essentially heating them until they melt. but this uses lots and lots of energy, creates toxic emissions and loses some of the materials. and that's why companies are coming up with new ways to recycle. you want to have as much as we can with high value materials that are, have taken a lot of effort to get out of the ground. we want to use those carefully and as many as we can. this is cornell fell son, chief commercial officer, lie cycle, a lithium ion battery recycling company from canada, which we basically come up with a process designed specifically for this to have high recovery rates of the

material. in the 1st stage, what we call her spoke is a mechanical process that breaks down the batteries and separate some of the fundamental materials. very, very simply speaking, this is what happens. the batteries are shredded while being submerged in a non toxic solution. this is important because it prevents them from catching fire and in the worst case, blowing up then materials like plastic, copper and aluminum separated from what the industry called the black mass. this contains the valuable materials, like cobalt, nicole and lithium. the 2nd half part of the process is the hub, and this is really a bespoke hydro, metallurgy or wet chemistry process to process black mass into battery materials. what this means is that different chemicals get added to the black mess, which needs al different elements. these chemicals either make their way into the final product or we used in the process. so this actually doesn't produce any waste

water. you end up with a black mass separated into a single components like lithium, cobalt and nickel. so that the end goal is that as we pull them out of the batteries, we're putting them back into new batteries and that hasn't been, she been achieved yet at a high scale there's, there's elements of it around the world, but we want to help to continue to try that forward, it is hard to keep track exactly how many lithium ion batteries already get recycled mainly because they're often exported. but it is already happening more and more especially in asia where most of them are also produced. and as volumes of spent batteries grow, it will make even more financial sense to recycle them. in the i do with material that the a indefinitely, the lithium ion battery ready,

one of the most of the products that is already reused today and told them that they thought recycled. we can optimize. is it better and better and more. but if we have on the market the, the more all good, so that will be now the corona virus condemning has shown how dependent you are based on raw materials from other parts of the world locked downs in asia and bought a closure cost massive disruptions and the global supply chain, forcing manufacturers to slow while even hold production. a team of geologist is now working to find dramatic, obviously, titanium, canadian and phosphorus that we're looking at. because there's extra phosphorus is an essential rule material used in fertilizer. the launch deposits of the name, on the other hand, can be used in huge batteries that store energy within electrical power greats.

both elements are considered critical materials, along with a range of others, such as lithium rats or graphite. but where does the term critical material come from? a question we put to the founder of the mining company critical materials . these are terminology which is basically comes from europe, has been invented by the u, because the europeans are dependent on today as so as to glow, particularly from supply from china and, and which is about 606062 percent. china is the number one producer of critical materials. in the case of rare, china provides more than 80 percent of global supply and process is the largest and mind reserves. lenders, cobalt, lithium, copper, and nichol. here, china has secured strategic supply commitments from other countries to gain

a monopoly. these materials are important for renewable energies which are needed to stop global warming. so right now, achieve in global climate goals depends on chinese raw materials. take lithium mining, like here in california, lithium is used in batteries for electric cars. here to china dominates the market . electric cars, wind and solar energy, all require a huge amount of critical materials. by 2040 lithium consumption is expected to be $42.00 times what it is now. the use of graphite cobalt and nickel rules increase massively. busy while rare earths will be consumed at 7 times, the current rate hover is another critical val. material that is in high demand owing to its use in electric vehicles and generators. china recognized the signs of the times early on. now,

europe is playing catch up. green a digital technologies currently depend on a number of scarce raw materials. we import, lithium for electric cars, platinum, to produce clean hydrogen, silicon metal, for solar panels, 98 percent of the rare earth elements we need come from single supplier china. this is why we have proposed to create a european raw materials alliance. oh, the e u has committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 60 percent over the next 2 decades. oh, so a europe wide consortium of companies with headquarters in berlin has been charged with the facing the issue of all materials. ah, the european relatives alliance as one mandate tests of the mandate to protect euro

from any kind of supply interaction of raw materials. and in particular critical raw materials and in this context, of course, our oldest 1st and foremost understanding the pattern and the mix of romance units . and here the role is identifying respect of companies that have the willingness and the capability to invest into raw material topics that can help closing the gap that we were just talking about. it will likely take 10 to 35000000000 euros of investment to mind the necessary role materials. so companies like nor to mining that are funding themselves are especially welcome to me. if you'll find a good project you have to invest as attend am. it's, you know, it is very intriguing will be doing. it's very excited because it's not only a minute project such, it has become a geopolitical nat, geo, strategic thing. but it often takes up to 20 years to build in mind,

starting from the initial phase of exploration. north mining says it already has enough funding from investors and hopes to stop mining much sooner for the european union. it can't come soon enough. that's all for this edition of mate. thanks for watching. stay safe with ah ah

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there are different forms of hon. dementia and illusion about time starting december 31st on d, w. o one, continent 700000000 people with their own personal stories. europe. mm hm. everyday life with what europeans fear and what they hope for focus on europe in on d. w. m. know ah, devastated how was the soft to how we can with cars carried off money, climate change, i mean failed to plug wires before a station in the rain forest continued carbon dioxide emissions have risen again.

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your meal with children in need with just $0.50 and a tap on your smartphone. smartphone users out number hungry children by 20 to imagine the impact you and your friends can have together, we can end global hunger. please download the app. ah ah, this is d w news coming to live from berlin. another independent voice in hong kong is silenced. the website stand news says it's closing down after being rated and having its assets pros and police made arrests and confiscated documents. also

coming up as polychrome becomes the dominant corona virus variant in europe, germany's health minister says the country's pandemic infection numbers are currently under reported. and russia, titans restrictions for foreigners staying in the country more than 3 months. they'll have to undergo a series of mandatory medical tests. go to moscow for the life. ah. hello, i'm terry martin. good to have you with us. one of hong kong last independent news outlets says it's folding after being rated and having its assets frozen hong kong police search, the offices of stand news earlier to day arresting 7 and removing evidence. it's the latest blow to the chinese territories shrinking free press. oh,

it's becoming a familiar site on the streets of hong kong. after several staff members from the pro democracy media outlet stunned news were arrested. over $200.00 police was seen entering the websites headquarters saying in a statement they were authorized to search and sees relevant journalistic materials . both the current and former editors of the publication were among those detained as well as the pop star. turn democracy activist. denise, whoa, an ex board member at stanz news. oh, the i got ne, deputy assignment direct to ronson. john was questioned, but not arrested. when he released this footage of police turning up at his home, why, by the authorities can be heard demanding. he stop filming lies. oh,

i know why speaking early this year, his prophetic words have knobby realised in what many c as a further erosion of the free press in hong kong. i think that the situation and a message is clear to from the government that making reports and doing and covering new story will have some criminal law results. you may be charged that you may be anymore that your freedom, whatever. so it's not easy to say that i'm not afraid of the situation. the rate on stand news is the latest move in a space of crackdowns under beijing's opaque national security law. there such as for me is said to detect a national security crime under the national security law in june. hong kong lodge is pro democracy paper. the apple daily was also rated and forced to close it's

founded july was recently sentenced to 13 months in jail. but withstand news gone and more journalist detained the grip on hong kong, free press. gross ever tighter. of moral this, let's bring in cedric viani. he is head of the east asia bureau of reporters without borders and join just from a ty pay. sally, you monitor, press freedom in the region that includes hong kong. tell us why stand news was important and what is closure means. western news was one of the last remaining independent media in hong kong. it's, i should them represents actually to be close or who residents, because this was one of their last chinese language media that hong kong residents

could rely on, you know, that 6 months ago, the executive that he's nothing more than the minion of the bitching regime has assassinated exactly the same way. it was the same modus operandi up on duty, which was a symbol of press freedom in hong kong. and now the s. s united and other media, which also was a symbol of press freedom. so, hong kong authorities accused stand news of, of inciting hatred and undermining national security. what do you make of these allegations? and it says shuns are totally ridiculous. stan dues was an independent generalist news websites that was founded in 2014. and that was quite popular in hong kong. it covered the chinese politics society. and it's probably the only thing that i'm going with or is this could reproach them is to stand for the values of democracy,

human rights, freedom, the rule of law and justice. and indeed, they reported information without fearing censorship. and this has become a crime in china and now even in the territory of hong kong. so apple dues daily has been shut down. stand news is now been shut down with all of this happening. where do you see hong kong press freedom headed where there's a very, very green prospect. unfortunately, the chinese regime has shown many times. it's determination to suppress freedom of the press. freedom of information in hong kong, just like it has done in the rest of the theory to re, china has now become the number one enemy of press freedom in the world. that it is not only of threats, folded chinese people, but also to democracies. and it's very important that the world would react. i knew it's christmas, i knew it's new year,

but the world has to react has to show shina. it's these approval don't empty games on coming in china. it's the right moment for the road for the world to react. cedric, i'll be on the head of the east asia bureau of reporters without borders. thank you very much for talking with us. thank you. sketch up on some other stories making headlines around the world to day. south africans are holding vigils in honor of antea party hero. archbishop desmond tutu who died on sunday at 892 to his home and johannesburg. so whether district prayers are being held in flowers, lake city of cape town, hosts a special tribute in his honor. later today, indonesian authorities are allowing a boat with $120.00 range muslims on board to dock in its waters. was comes after 8 organizations called for them to be rescued. the country's security ministry previously said it would push the vessel back into international waters. the overcrowded boat has a damaged engine and has been drifting for days of indonesia,

northern coast. the daily average of corona virus cases in the u. s. in the past week has surged to record high over 258000. last time the figures of past the quarter 1000000 mark was back in january. the on the cross very, it now makes up nearly 60 percent of us cases, states in the northeast have been hardest him here in europe, france has recorded over 200000 coves, 19 cases in a 24 hour period. that's a new french and european daily record. the only cranberry of the corona virus is fast becoming dominant on the european continent. britain, italy and portugal have all so all announced a record number of new infections in poland. authority say nearly 800 deaths were recorded in just one day, the highest number there, so for 3 quarters of those who died were on vaccinated. germany is seeing

a dip in its official infection rates, but health minister col lauterbach says the actual number of new cases is likely to be about 2 or 3 times higher than reported or more on the curb. in 19 situation in germany, let's speak to dr. the yon sons, he's the general secretary at the german society intensive and emergency medicine. thanks for being with us. are fiances. germany is surrounded on all sides by countries with soaring infection rates. is this country due for a rude awakening to yes. hello. good morning. i was saying at this point in time, we cannot provide any reliable data on the proportion of the american very end in germany. this is also do like a lot of on health minister said due to the previous public holidays. here. the reports are always clearly delayed, however, it can be assumed. i think that the on the chron variance will certainly dominate

in january. like in the other countries, like great britain, like an all way like denmark like portugal. and this means that like, and other countries named con greece, we can expect significant number of infections. and currently 10000 infections with the obamacare variance have been reported. here we are recording daily growth rate of almost 50 percent, and therefore one cannot speak of a rude awakening at the moment. okay, so the picture doesn't look that rosy already. how are german intensive care units holding up to the surgeon, infections? as this is a very good question at the moment, 4170 patients, we've covered nonsense currently being treated in intensive care units. thus the situation is currently, i think, definitely manageable at the moment. nevertheless,

we are, of course, very concerned with that with increasing infection from the on the can varian and high number of infections following the occupancy of hospitals and intensive care units will also increase again. unfortunately, the hospitalization rates reported from other countries with the on the can vary and dominant is lower compared to previous waste. nevertheless, infections among employers can lead to bottlenecks in the staff and thus increase the bird even more of a young sense. thank you very much. i thank you. russia has tightened restrictions for foreign residents and visitors, planning long term stays under the new long foreigners giving in living in russia or visitors. aiming to stay for longer than 3 months will be tested for a list of conditions, including coven, 19 h, ivy. syphilis, tuberculosis, leprosy, and drug addiction. several multinational corporations operating in the country

have criticized the new regulator. or more, we're joined by journalists, felix light in moscow. felix, what's the idea behind tightening these medical checks for foreigners? well, to be quite frank, there's been some confusion since this draft law was published. it's due to go into effect just with the new year and, you know, it was, it was kind of a sweeping decision because health checks have always been part of the russian migration process for those seeking permanent residency permits. but, but to extend it to this extent is it was quite extraordinary because not only do we have sort of a century old, foreign as minus diplomats and tourists covered. but we also have children from the age of 6 being covered and to remind the views that entails children of 6 being tested for sexually transmitted diseases, which obviously, you know, seems rather ridiculous. and in general though, i think this, this almost seems as though it, it came almost by accident to cover most foreign. his head,

this seems to me into many others to be aimed primarily at rushes that have large population of central asia and caucasian migrant workers. in more recently, we've seen quite a sort of a, a ton in sort of negative rhetoric from the criminal with regard to migrate migrant population, especially in moscow. i need to church of do employ more russian workers so it may be related to that. but to be quite frank, this is a very a on transparent system and we simply don't know the precise motivations for this little being forced to undergo extensive health checks. as you've described a repeatedly, doesn't sound very appealing. what will this mean for those affected? well, i certainly think many in this sort of european and of north american bob's work is in moscow, perhaps reconsidering that positions here are the german russian chamber of commerce has been very, very active in lobbying against the decisions just today. are they said they'd secured sort of clarification in

a slight sort of weakening of some of the but i think certainly from many sort of big european companies, which even despite the, the substantial decline in economic links between the, between america and russia since the annexation of crimea in 2014, in the position of sanctions, right to that, that have restored so to the retained i should say that there economic needs to russia. that does seem to be a reassessment of those things. you know, a bit to sort of move star away from russia and perhaps to sort of more russell. why is it was that that representations it because this is obviously, you know, not a particularly attractive proposition for many managers and specialists who might be tempted by jobs in russia at the moment. ok, so foreign corporations, obviously i don't appreciate this, but how is the announcement going down among the russian population itself? is there a broad support among the people in russia for this move? i mean, i think, you know, you can't really remove this from the broader context of,

of where russia is at the moment. you know, there are any numbers of problems in russia right now for inflation through to political repression. and you're to be quite honest the of migrant workers, whether that's from central asia or from europe on one of the top of anyone's agenda in moscow on the thread. so this is very much a sort of of an ex pat issue as it was felix. thank you so much journalist felix light there in moscow. you're watching the w news business is next with rob watts. i'm terry martin for me and all of us here at the w thanks for watching with

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