The Twisted Tale of Mica’s Supply Chain
A shimmery mineral. A not-so-shimmery life. That’s how the landscape of Mica mining looks like.
What binds the cosmetic, automotive, paint, construction, and electrical industries together?
Their love for ‘Mica’. This shimmery mineral is pretty multi-talented. On one hand, it is responsible for the sparking eye shadows, blush, and lipsticks that single-handedly carry the cosmetic industry on their shoulders. And on the other, it has excellent electrical and thermal properties, making it the perfect candidate for the electrical and automobile industry.
But, for all its shimmer and sparkle, Mica has pushed the future of many into the throes of darkness. How? Read on.
The process of Mica mining is a labour-intensive process. The miners have to brave a lot of risks and travel down to narrow mining shafts. These people work all day in 40 foot deep caves, with a constant threat of the roof collapsing on them. Moreover, the narrow shafts make children the ideal candidate for the task, making them even more vulnerable to exploitation.
And as luck would have it, the underdeveloped regions have been cursed with the blessings of Mica deposits. Yes. Curse.
Curse of Child Labour. Do you see how high the risk of exploitation is, specifically in India?
Now, child labour, labour exploitation are just words until you dig deeper into the rabbit hole.
Thousands of people, including children from the age of 5, work in illegal mines all over Jharkhand and Bihar. For a good day’s work, a person can make only Rs.20-30 per day. And, there is a standard compensation policy in case of deaths. The family is rewarded Rs.30,000. Yes, the value of life, reduced to a meager Rs. 30,000. And, deaths are not uncommon. Neither are permanent disabilities and health conditions.
But, why are these people not seeking better work opportunities?
Because these regions don’t have any. In these regions, 81 percent of families are dependent on Mica for their livelihood, 70 percent own less than one acre of land, and 72 percent of families live below the poverty level.
To make matters worse, this issue has been aggravated since the 1980s, when the government made mining illegal. Approximately 70% of mica produced in India comes from these illegal mines that are unregulated by the government. Now, families have mouths to feed. In this vacuum of job opportunities, people are pushed to mining without any safety net from the government.
Isn’t this outrageous? Are corporates purposely turning a blind eye to this grim reality?
Well, the supply chain of Mica is very long and ridden with problems. Traceability is the key to solving this problem. There is a black hole between the mine and the exporter. After the Mica is mined, it is collected by a broker, refined, and then sold to exporters. The majority of this goes to China (69%), from where it goes to different industries across the world. The process does not give much visibility to corporates, and it is beneficial for them to turn a blind eye, as it keeps their expenses under check. Yep. Profits over people.
And so, the exploitation continued. Until one fine day, they came under the scanner. It was the cosmetic industry that first came into the eyes of the public. Their usage of Mica was more visible than any other industry. Several beauty companies like Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty and British Cosmetic Retailer Lush were reprimanded for using mica from mines that hire children.
They now rushed to right the wrong, to save their images in the public eye.
In 2014, Lush pledged to clean their mica supply chain and tried to incorporate artificially manufactured mica. California’s Beautycounter, a company, built around the ethos of clean and safe cosmetics, began to investigate their sourcing methods of mica. They conducted regular audits of their suppliers and asked them to provide third-party certification attesting to ethical labor practices. But, they were unsure due to the several middlemen in the process. And so, officials from Beautycounter visited Jharkhand to check whether those certificates were a way to cover up the illegal labor practices. This led them to stick to domestic mica produced in the United States, which boasts high environmental and social standards.
But, some companies, such as L’Oreal, think that even a decision to withdraw will be detrimental to the local society. It will push the miners to an even darker way of life. So, what’s the solution then?
Stick back and fight.
And so, many companies turned to the Responsible Mica Initiative (RMI). A Paris-based non-profit organization, RMI is an attempt to balance people and profits. They plan to bring legality to the process, empower the local communities and set safe workplace standards. Some of the well-known members include BASF, Daimler, H&M, L’Oreal, Porsche, and Sephora.
But, sadly, the total number of members is only around 70, which means that many companies are still using this translucent mineral from suppliers in the opaque market. Moreover, most of them belong to the cosmetic industry, which does not even account for significant MICA usage!
Companies looking to solve this problem should take inspiration from Sudarshan Chemicals, an Indian company working in the Dyes and Pigments Sector. They have developed a 5 step action plan against child labour. They have strict work environment requirements to ensure labourers are not exploited, and if the vendors contractually do not meet these requirements, their contracts are terminated. States such as Jharkhand and Bihar that have widespread poverty can only develop when such companies realize their social responsibility and loosen their purse strings to invest in the welfare of people working in these mines.
But, is it only the fault of companies?
Definitely not. The government will have to lead the fight. NGOs have significantly worked on bringing this matter to light, and now the torch needs to be passed to the ones in power to bring an end to these heinous practices.
Hopefully, the Mica-mining process will soon be as shimmery as the mineral itself, and those little children will soon have a brighter future.
Until next time, ReadOn.
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