Coltan - another source of income for the rebels.
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What is Coltan?
By Imtiyaz Delawala
ABC News
September 7, 2001
You may not have heard of coltan, but you have it in
your cell phone, laptops, pagers and other electronic
devices. It is important to everyday communication in
the United States, but it is making the conflict in
Congo more complicated.
What Is Coltan?
Columbite-tantalite — coltan for short — is a dull
metallic ore found in major quantities in the eastern
areas of Congo. When refined, coltan becomes metallic
tantalum, a heat-resistant powder that can hold a high
electrical charge. These properties make it a vital
element in creating capacitors, the electronic
elements that control current flow inside miniature
circuit boards. Tantalum capacitors are used in almost
all cell phones, laptops, pagers and many other
electronics. The recent technology boom caused the
price of coltan to skyrocket to as much as $400 a
kilogram at one point, as companies such as Nokia and
Sony struggled to meet demand.
How Is Coltan Mined?
Coltan is mined through a fairly primitive process
similar to how gold was mined in California during the
1800s. Dozens of men work together digging large
craters in streambeds, scraping away dirt from the
surface in order to get to the coltan underground. The
workers then slosh water and mud around in large
washtubs, allowing the coltan to settle to the bottom
due to its heavy weight. A good worker can produce one
kilogram of coltan a day.
Coltan mining is very well paid in Congo terms. The
average Congolese worker makes $10 a month, while a
coltan miner can make anywhere from $10 to $50 a week.
Financing the Conflict
A highly controversial U.N. Security Council report
recently outlined the alleged exploitation of natural
resources, including coltan, from Congo by other
countries involved in the current war. There are
reports that forces from neighboring Rwanda, Uganda
and Burundi are involved in smuggling coltan from
Congo, using the revenues generated from the high
price of coltan to sustain their efforts in the war.
By one estimate, the Rwandan army made at least $250
million over a period of 18 months through the sale of
coltan, even though no coltan is mined in Rwanda. All
countries involved in the war deny exploiting Congo's
natural resources.
Environmental Consequences
In order to mine for coltan, rebels have overrun
Congo's national parks, clearing out large chunks of
the area's lush forests. In addition, the poverty and
starvation caused by the war have driven some miners
and rebels to hunt the parks' endangered elephants and
gorillas for food. In Kahuzi Biega National Park, for
example, the gorilla population has been cut nearly in
half, from 258 to 130.
Tracing the Source
The path that coltan takes to get from Central Africa
to the world market is a highly convoluted one, with
legitimate mining operations often being confused with
illegal rebel operations, and vice versa, making it
difficult to trace the origin. To be safe, in recent
months many electronics companies have publicly
rejected the use of coltan from anywhere in Central
Africa, instead relying on their main suppliers in
Australia. 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
Congo or bordering countries. But it may be a case of
too little, too late. Much of the coltan illegally
stolen from Congo is already in laptops, cell phones
and electronics all over the world
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