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Hunt for the 'blood diamond of batteries' impedes green energy push

By Dionne Searce and Eric Lipton
New York Times·
20 mins to read

Dangerous mining conditions plague Congo, home to the world's largest supply of cobalt, a key ingredient in electric cars. A leadership battle threatens reforms.

A man in a pinstripe suit with a red pocket square walked around the edge of a giant pit one April afternoon where hundreds of workers often toil in flip-flops, burrowing deep into the ground with shovels and pickaxes.

His polished leather shoes crunched on dust the miners had spilled from nylon bags stuffed with cobalt-laden

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