War in the Congo "Coltan"

[Space Varmint]

It has been found through satellite imagery that Africa has 80% of the world's coltan:

"The Congo is a politically unstable area. The Rwandan occupation in the east of the Congo has meant the DRC has been unable to exploit the resource for its own benefit. A recent UN Security Council report[7] charged that a great deal of the ore is mined illegally and smuggled over the country's eastern borders by militias from neighbouring Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.[8]

Coltan smuggling has also been implicated as a major source of income for the military occupation of Congo. To many, this raises ethical questions akin to those of conflict diamonds. Owing to the difficulty of distinguishing legitimate from illegitimate mining operations, several electronics manufacturers have decided to forgo central African coltan altogether, relying on other sources.[citation needed] The high-tech industry's demand for tantalum clearly has fueled an increase in coltan mining worldwide – including in the Congo region.

All three countries named by the United Nations as smugglers of coltan have denied being involved. Austrian journalist Klaus Werner has documented links between multi-national companies like Bayer and the illegal coltan traffic.[9] Likewise has Johann Hari written on the connections between coltan resources and the genocide in Congo.[10][11] A United Nations committee investigating the plunder of gems and minerals in the Congo listed in its final report[7] approximately 125 companies and individuals involved in business activities breaching international norms. Companies accused of irresponsible corporate behavior are for example Cabot Corporation, Eagle Wings Resources International,[12] George Forrest Group[13] and OM Group.[14]"

read more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan

 

[HiTech]

All that grief and troubles over no more than 1% of the world's tantalum?? Just another reason why they remain as Third World Nations.

 

[Space Varmint]

It's actually 80%. I don't think that article is quite up to date. At least now we know what it is about.

 

[Mikebits]

If this was a school paper, Hitech would have to reach through his monitor and smack you for plagiarism.

 

[Space Varmint]

I gave wiki credit for the explanation of "coltan" but I cannot tell you the source of the report I heard today because I do not know it. In fact the reporter did not know what coltan was but reported that satellite photography had shown that 80% of it is in the Congo.

 

[Space Varmint]

Sorry HI TECH. Please don't slap me. I got a kick out of that signature. Best laugh I've had in two days!

 

[Mikebits]

According to your Wiki source, the Congo has less than 1%. So I would have to research more to see where you get 80%. How about citing your article source.

 

[mneary]

According to your Wiki source, the Congo has less than 1%.

I read Wiki as saying the Congo (and smugglers?) have less than 1% of the market share.

No mention of deposit strength.

 

[Space Varmint]

The reader was Jack McLamb but I did not catch who he said the source was.

 

[Space Varmint]

I found a source: http://www.cellular-news.com/coltan/

What Is Coltan ?

Coltan, short for Columbite-tantalite is a metallic ore comprising Niobium and Tantalum, found mainly in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formally Zaire). When refined, coltan becomes a heat resistant powder, metallic tantalum which has unique properties for storing electrical charge. Of the 525 tons of tantalum used in the USA in 1998, 60% was used in tantalum capacitors, with a predicted growth rate of 14% per annum (from Uganda Gold Mining Ltd web site).

It is therefore a vital component in the capacitors that control current flow in cell phone circuit boards.

Mining Coltan

Coltan is mined by hand in the Congo by groups of men digging basins in streams by scrapping off the surface mud. They then "slosh" the water around the crater, which causes the Coltan ore to settle to the bottom of the crater where it is retrieved by the miners. A team can "mine" one kilo of Coltan per day.

The tech boom caused the price of Coltan to rocket to as high as US$600 per kilogram at one point, compared to a previous value of US$65 per kilogram, although it has settled down to around US$100 per kilogram at the moment. A Coltan miner can earn as much as US$200 per month, compared to a typical salary of US$10 per month for the average Congolese worker.

80% of the world's known coltan supply is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which the UN says is subject to "highly organized and systematic exploitation."

Coltan financing war

A recent report by the UN has claimed that all the parties involved in the local civil war have been involved in the mining and sale of Coltan. One report suggested that the neighboring Rwandan army made US$250 million from selling Coltan in less than 18 months, despite there being no Coltan in Rwanda to mine. The military forces of Uganda and Burundi are also implicated in smuggling Coltan out of Congo for resale in Belgium.

A report to the United Nations security council has called for a moratorium on purchase and import of resources from the Democratic Republic of Congo, due to the ongoing civil war that has dragged in the surrounding countries.

Coltan and Gorillas

The main area where Coltan is mined, also contains the Kahuzi Biega National Park, home of the Mountain Gorilla. In Kahuzi Biega National Park the gorilla population has been cut nearly in half, from 258 to 130 as the ground is cleared to make mining easier. Not only has this reduced the available food for the Gorillas, the poverty caused by the displacement of the local populations by the miners has lead to Gorillas being killed and their meat being sold as "bush meat" to the miners and rebel armies that control the area. Within the Dem. Rep. of Congo as a whole, the U.N. Environment Program has reported that the number of eastern lowland gorillas in eight Dem. Rep. of Congo national parks has declined by 90% over the past 5 years, and only 3,000 now remain.

Due to the damage caused to the Gorilla population and their natural habitat, companies that use Coltan are now starting to demand that their Coltan only comes from legitimately mined sources and is not a byproduct of the war. American-based Kemet, the world's largest maker of tantalum capacitors, has asked its suppliers to certify that their coltan ore does not come from Dem. Rep. of Congo or from neighbouring countries. Such moves could lead to "Gorilla Safe " cellphones being marketed, much in the same way that Tuna meat is now sold as "Dolphin Safe".

Other sources

There are few alternative sources of Coltan apart from the Dem. Rep. of Congo, although the University of St Andrews geologist, Dr Adrian Finch recently reported that he has found Coltan inside extinct volcanoes in the remote North Motzfeldt region of Greenland. Dr Finch has now received a two year funding plan from the Carnegie Trust and Gino Watkins Fund to investigate the commercial viability of mining the volcanoes.

What to do ?

There is very little the "man on the street" can do to prevent Coltan exploitation as it is not a "visible" component of cellphones that can be differentiated when shopping, but continuing pressure on circuit board manufacturers has lead to many demanding that their Coltan supplies only come from legitimate sources. Similar pressure on other users of Coltan can also help to ensure that only legitimately mined and sold Coltan is used in circuit boards. At a government level, pressure on local politicians to drive awareness of the ongoing civil war in the Dem. Rep. of Congo and help to secure a resolution will help to prevent the extinction of the Mountain Gorilla.

The Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center (T.I.C.), the industry organisation representing producers, processors and consumers of tantalum and niobium around the world, said that it deplores the reported activities of illegal miners in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It was agreed at the T.I.C. Executive Committee meeting in Brussels on April 3rd 2001 that the organisation would take a stand regarding the use and production of coltan mined in these World Heritage Sites.

Useful links

National Public Radio - US based radio station did a story on this issue - audio of program on their site

Born Free Foundation - a report into Coltan mining commissioned by the Foundation.

Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund - fund to save Mountain Gorillas


Jack McLamb don't lie

 

[Torben]

Another interesting snippet of text from that very same web page (http://www.cellular-news.com/coltan/ ):

All rights reserved. Reproduction of this website,in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from cellular-news is prohibited.

I'm just saying, don't be surprised if the admins decide to delete that post; they probably don't want to get sued.

My apologies if you actually do have permission to reprint that article here in its entirety.


Torben

 

[Space Varmint]

Of website, That's just a web page. Don't have a hernia.

 

[HiTech]

When it states "whole or in part" that includes even a single sentence!

 

[Space Varmint]

When it states "whole or in part" that includes even a single sentence!

SLAP! Ouch! He got me.

 

[Torben]

Of website, That's just a web page. Don't have a hernia.

Short, glib, and wrong. See HiTech's post.

At any rate, I'm not having a hernia (what is this, Grade 8?) Just saying don't be surprised if the copy gets deleted. There is a reason the web has these things called "links".


Torben

 

[davidbball13]

i had to do a school paper on this!!!

 

[Speakerguy]

Quoting part of the article is perfectly legal under US law as fair use. Posting the whole article is not protected and is copyright infringement.

What they say on their site ("in whole or in part") does not change US law. Quoting small sections, generally accepted as up to a normal paragraph of text, is OK.

 

[Torben]

Quoting part of the article is perfectly legal under US law as fair use. Posting the whole article is not protected and is copyright infringement.

What they say on their site ("in whole or in part") does not change US law. Quoting small sections, generally accepted as up to a normal paragraph of text, is OK.

You're right, of course. I didn't read HiTech's post carefully enough.

Note that the Associated Press is trying to intimidate bloggers into believing otherwise: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080617/0740561432.shtml
According to them, any excerpt of 5 or more words from one of their articles must be paid for.

They have a wonderful little pricing page up, where they implore readers to "honor copyright", apparently skipping happily past the fact that copyright includes "Fair Use".

But yeah, posting the whole article is definitely well outside the bounds of fair use.


Torben

 

[HiTech]

US copyright laws typically get enforced when the offender is receiving some sort of gain from their act. Even a sentence borrowed from an author can be considered as infringement. Afterall, using a slogan ( basic sentence) for personal or monetary gain is infringement. I work with this stuff quite often and I walk on egg shells when dealing with media duplication and intellectual property issues.

 

[Torben]

US copyright laws typically get enforced when the offender is receiving some sort of gain from their act. Even a sentence borrowed from an author can be considered as infringement. Afterall, using a slogan ( basic sentence) for personal or monetary gain is infringement. I work with this stuff quite often and I walk on egg shells when dealing with media duplication and intellectual property issues.

I agree==-wWalking on eggshells with it is a really good idea, given that the American Dream seems to have been misinterpreted by some people (luckily, a minority) to mean "set a trap, lie in wait for the first semi-sueable party to wander by, then sue their butts off for several million".

Forum and blog operators have been sued in the past for comments posted by users and it'll probably happen again. I don't think it's right and I don't condone it but it's still scary.


Torben