Page 653 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

Central Case stUdy

Mining for . . . Cell Phones?

“The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
has become mainly about access, control, and trade

AFRICA of five key mineral resources: coltan, diamonds,
copper, cobalt, and gold.”

— Report to the United Nations security Council,
april 2001

“Coltan . . . is not helping the local people. In fact,
Region of
coltan mining it is the curse of the Congo.”
Democratic Republic
of the Congo —african journalist Kofi akosah-sarpong
Indian
Ocean
Atlantic
Ocean
Pulling a cell phone from her pocket, a student on a college As information technology boomed in the late 1990s,
campus in the United States dials a friend. Inside her phone is global demand for tantalum rose, and market prices for the
a little-known metal called tantalum—just a tiny amount, but no metal shot up to $500/kg ($230/lb) in 2001. High prices led
cell phone could operate without it. some Congolese men to mine coltan by choice, but many
Half a world away, a miner in the heart of Africa toils all more were forced to work as miners. As the war began in
day in a jungle streambed, sifting sediment for nuggets of 1998, local militias, supported by forces from neighboring
coltan ore, which contain tantalum. At nightfall, rebel soldiers Rwanda and Uganda, overran eastern Congo. Farmers were
take most of his ore, leaving him to sell what little remains to chased off their land, villages were burned, and civilians were
buy food for his family at the squalid mining camp where they raped, tortured, and killed. Soldiers from each army seized
live. control of mining operations. They forced farmers, refugees,
In bedeviling ways, tantalum links our glossy global prisoners, and children to work, and the soldiers skimmed
high-tech economy with one of the most abused regions on profits from the coltan the people mined. Children and teach-
Earth. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has long been ers abandoned school and worked in the mines, while prosti-
embroiled in a sprawling conflict that has involved six nations tution spread AIDS and sexually transmitted disease through
and various rebel militias. Over 5.4 million people have lost their the mining camps. The turmoil also caused ecological havoc
lives in this war since 1998. For its population size, this is as as miners and soldiers streamed into national parks, clear-
though Congo were being hit by three September 11 terror- ing rainforests and killing wildlife for food, including forest ele-
ist attacks every day for a decade. It is the latest chapter in phants, hippopotamuses, endangered gorillas, and the okapi,
the sad history of a nation rich in natural resources—copper, a rare relative of the giraffe.
cobalt, gold, diamonds, uranium, and timber—whose impover- Most miners ended up with little, while rebels, soldiers,
ished people keep losing control of those resources to others. and bandits enriched themselves selling coltan to traders,
At the center of the recent conflict is tantalum (Ta), ele- who sold it to processing companies in Europe and the United
ment number 73 on the periodic table (Appendix d). We rely on States. These companies refine and sell tantalum powder
this metal for our cell phones, computer chips, DVD players, to capacitor manufacturers, which in turn sell capacitors to
game consoles, and digital cameras. Tantalum powder is ideal Nokia, Motorola, Sony, Intel, Compaq, Dell, and other high-
for capacitors (the components that store energy and regu- tech corporations.
late current in miniature circuit boards) because it is highly heat In 2001, an expert panel commissioned by the United
resistant and readily conducts electricity. Nations Security Council concluded that coltan riches were
Tantalum comes from a dull blackish mineral called tanta- fueling, financing, and prolonging the war. The panel urged a
lite, which often occurs with a mineral called columbite—so the U.N. embargo on coltan and other minerals smuggled from
ore is referred to as columbite–tantalite, or coltan for short. In Congo and exported by neighboring nations. A grass-roots
eastern Congo, men dig craters in rainforest streambeds, pan- activist movement advanced the slogan “No blood on my cell
652 ning for coltan much as early California miners panned for gold. phone!”

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