2023-11-13 19:39:48
BMW signed a cobalt supply contract with Managem in 2020 with a total value announced at the time of 100 million euros and which runs until 2025.
The German automobile group BMW said Monday that it had opened an investigation into a Moroccan cobalt supplier, accused in the German press of polluting the environment with arsenic discharges from a mine.
The Moroccan mining group Managem is being accused of releasing large quantities of toxic arsenic into the environment in its Bou Azzer mine, in the south of Morocco, German media NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung said on Sunday.
The survey was also published by the French site Reporterre and the Moroccan site Hawamich.
“BMW immediately opened an investigation and asked Managem management to provide explanations,” said the German group in a press release sent to AFP.
“Very high” arsenic concentration
In the event of proven fault by the supplier, BMW “will of course demand immediate corrective measures”, continued the press release, saying it takes “possible violations” of the rules “seriously”.
A “very high” concentration of arsenic and therefore representing “a danger” was detected in water samples from the valley near the mine, chemist Wolf von Tümpling of the Helmholtz Center for Research told German media Environmental Agency of Magdeburg in Germany.
Current and former employees of the mine also claim, according to German media, that Managem does not respect international standards for worker protection and ignores criticism from unions.
BMW signed a cobalt supply contract with Managem in 2020 with a total value announced at the time of 100 million euros and which runs until 2025.
It was followed in 2022 by the French manufacturer Renault which signed a similar contract with Managem, the amount of which was not communicated.
Renault will also supply Morocco
Renault told AFP on Monday evening that its supply of Moroccan cobalt was due to start in 2025 and that independent audits were already planned by then.
Global manufacturers are competing fiercely to secure their supplies of rare metals, including cobalt, necessary for the manufacture of batteries and the transition to electric vehicles in their vehicles.
Since a German law passed in 2021, companies have a permanent duty of vigilance in environmental and social matters, whether on their own production sites or those of their suppliers.
The Bou Azzer mine has been extracting primary cobalt since 1928, according to an online presentation by the group.
Managem rejected all allegations and said it adheres to high environmental and social standards, reports the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
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