ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS OF COMPUTING

Conflict Mining (Congo)

Author: Nicko Johnson
Date Updated: Mar. 2, 2014
Occupation: Student (University of the West Indies, Mona)

Overview

Armed groups earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year by trading conflict minerals. In the last decade these minerals have fuelled ongoing armed conflicts and civil war in a number of African countries. These minerals are in all our electronics devices.

Locals in mining communities are forced to take part in the illicit mining economy. Money earned from the sale of conflict minerals is used for personal profit and to further violent causes.

Minerals are smuggled out of Congo through neighboring countries, and then shipped to smelters around the world for refinement. Once minerals are processed in this way, it's difficult to trace their origin. Conflict minerals easily make their way to the U.S. and all over the world in consumer products.

What are Conflict Minerals?

Conflict minerals are minerals mined in conditions of armed conflict and human rights abuses, mostly in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Types of Conflict minerals

Curently there are four main conflict minerals:
  1. Columbite-tantalite (tantalum)
  2. Cassiterite (tin)
  3. Wolframite (tungsten)
  4. Gold
Conflict Minerals
Material Use
Tantatum Used in the production of capacitors in:
  • hearing aids
  • pacemakers
  • air bags
  • GPS
  • ignition systems and anti-lock
    braking systems in automobiles
  • laptop computers and moblie phones
  • video game consoles and digital cameras
  • jet engine/turbine blades,
    drill bits, end mills and other tools
Tin Essential in the production of:
  • tin cans
  • solder on circuit boards of electronic equipment
A common component of
  • fungicides and tetrabutyl tin/tetraoctyl tin
Tungsten Used in the production of:
  • fishing weights, dart tips and golf club heads
Gold Used in the production of :
  • jewellery, electronics, and dental products


Mines Operations

How are Mineral Mines Controlled

There are 13 major mines identified in eastern Congo, 12 are currently controlled by armed groups.

Both the United Nations and IPIS estimate that armed groups and military units control of over 50 percent of the 200 total mines in eastern Congo. Armed groups control the mines in different ways.

What are the Working Conditions like on the Mines?

At some mines the FDLR forces people to work, while at others their relationship to the local population is more strictly commercial. Working conditions at the mines are abysmal as workers are treated like slaves. There are no health and safety standards for miners in the area from which the 3Ts (tin, tantalum, tungsten) and gold originate.

Transportation and Trade of Minerals

Trading Routes

From the mines, the minerals get transported to trading towns and then on to the two major cities in the region, Bukavu and Goma. For the gold trade, Butembo and Uvira are also key trading hubs.

The 3Ts are brought by individuals called negociants in French, or buyer-transporters-on their backs, by large trucks, and/or by planes in sacks the size of small garbage bags.

The minerals are then sorted by trading houses called "maisons d'achat," or trading houses, which process the minerals. The majority of these traders are paid in advance by the exporters to whom they sell the minerals.


Value of Minerals

Of the three main minerals, gold is the most valuable by weight. Illustratively, the going price of processed tin is just under $7 per pound, whereas gold is currently valued at more than $15,000 per pound.

Why should the Rest of the World be Concerned?

The minerals mined in Congo, at the expense of the lives and happiness of the people, are main elements of most of our electronic devices.

The electronics industry is the single largest consumer of the minerals from eastern Congo. The now-processed metals usually go through a few sub-stages here-first to circuit board and computer chip manufacturers, then to cell phone and other electronics manufacturers, and finally to the mainstream electronics companies such as Intel, Apple, Nokia, Hewlett Packard, Nintendo, etc.

These companies then make the products that we all know and buy-cell phones, portable music players, video games, and laptop computers. Because companies do not currently have a system to trace, audit, and certify where their materials come from, all cell phones and laptops may contain conflict minerals from Congo.

Note, the electronics industry is not the only one that uses the 3Ts and gold, but it is the largest.

Other industries with a significant stake include tin can manufacturers, industrial tool and light bulb companies for tungsten, and aerospace and defence contractors, as well as the banking and jewelry industries in the case of gold.






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