Films like Blood Diamond and hip hop artists like Kanye West have brought the brutality associated with the diamond trade to the fore. But there’s a much lesser known mineral being mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC) that might be causing more death and destruction than the other mineral trades combined.
It’s called Columbite Tantalite – coltan for short – and the DRC is rife with the stuff. It’s a shadowy mineral, valuable, like oil, for its potential, not like diamonds and gold, for their beauty. And, also like oil, you have undoubtedly purchased coltan in the recent past, and are likely using it this moment.
Coltan is the material that makes computer chips possible. Without it, our technological life would grind to a halt. Yet because of it, murders, rapes, and endless conflict have become the norm, and a species of ape is facing extinction.
Unlike oil, coltan mining is a low-tech operation. Men and women gather it with their hands and simple tools and sell cans of it to well armed overseers. It’s not hard to understand the lure – the work is physically hard, but so is most every other line of work in the country, and the coltan miner can expect to make $200 dollars a month, compared to the $10 monthly national average. But with that much money flowing into un-policed areas in a jungle where brutality has long been the rule of law, violence and chaos are inevitable. It’s been estimated that roughly 4 million people have died in the region as a result of the coltan trade.
When a mining camp is established in the jungle, every sort of conceivable exploitation is soon to follow. An unofficial company store is established, where miners trade soup cans of coltan for over-priced beer, food, and ‘camp-wives’ – prostitutes who cook and clean for the men as well as provide sex. And, when syphilis breaks out, a few more soup cans will buy the necessary medicine to save the miner’s life. The miners’ money goes quick in the jungle.
Further complicating the matter, roving militias roam the area, looking for vulnerable miners who are taking their day’s production to the market. People are routinely robbed, killed, raped, kidnapped and even eaten in the course of the war over resources that rages in the region.
The mining camps also mean devastation for the region’s population of Mountain Gorillas. Not only is the animal’s natural habitat destroyed, but they’re also being hunted as a source of ‘bush meat.’ While in the west we see gorillas as majestic creatures, many in the DRC simply see them as free food and another source of income.
While it is estimated that 80% of the world’s coltan reserve is in the DRC, many of the world’s high-tech companies are making an effort to purchase the mineral exclusively from Australia, where its mining is well regulated. But it’s nearly impossible to ascertain the origin of processed coltan, so the consumer can’t be sure that the high-tech gadget she’s purchasing is conflict free. Perhaps in the future, consumer electronics will be labeled ‘Gorilla Safe.’ Maybe as consumer awareness grows, so will pressure on the industry to be certain of the origin of the coltan in its products. But for the DRC, it’s yet another curse disguised as a blessing. It seems as if each generation discovers another abundant natural resource in Africa. Yet somehow it always costs millions of African lives.
