LubumbashiCongo’s cobalt carries undeclared uranium, study finds.
Mining communities absorb radiation risk while refiners, mainly in China, receive the metal.
Export paperwork tracks the mineral being sold, not the uranium riding inside the same cargo.
No agency has said whether it will screen cobalt cargoes for uranium content.
How each outlet framed it
- Phys.org
- explains uranium's co-occurrence with cobalt in ore and identical chemical processing behavior enabling unreported extraction
Sources: Phys.org