Davide Monteleone, Critical Minerals – Geography of Energy

How can sustainability emerge in the future without repeating the errors of the past? The series questions the change-over to renewable energy sources, which is due to the desired change in the global energy industry. The Italian photographer (born 1974), who lives in Switzerland, reveals the problems related to the complex geopolitical, social and ecological effects of copper, lithium and cobalt mining in Chile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia.

Index Detail | Image x 16 Images

Cobalt mining. Portrait of a miner, Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), August 2023

Cobalt mining. View of the manually-dug, open tunnels, Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), August 2023

View of the site of the artisanal copper and cobalt mine Shabara, Kolwezi, Democratic republic of Congo (DRC), August 2023

The Comiakol cooperative artisanal mining in the Mutoshi concession, Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), August 2023

Aerial view of lithium evaporation ponds, Albemarle Facility, Chile, April 2023

View of the former stadium in Chuquicamata ghost town Chile, April 2023

Workers collecting samples from a lithium pond, Albemarle Facility. Chile, April 2023

Aerial view of lithium evaporation ponds, SQM Facility, Chile, April 2023

Aerial view of lithium evaporation ponds, Albemarle Facility, Chile, April 2023

Valle de La Luna, Atacama Desert, Chile, April 2023

The sky over the Zapar canyon, once a fertile area, that now suffers from a lack of water, Chile, April 2023

Aerial views of Chuquicamate mine, Chile 2023

Aerial views of nickel mining, Indonesia 2024

Forest in the area around nickel mining, Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia 2024

View of the PT Antam Nickel mine, Molawe District, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, May 2024

Thousands of workers starting their shift in one of the companies at the Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), Central Sulawesi, Indonesia 2024

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