Now that the war is alll but over
Now that the oil war is all but over, does anyone have any comment on the mobile phone war?
http://www.geocities.com/rodneys_geology/Congo-Coltan.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mobile phones are funding war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I'll attempt in this story to give a less depressing account and a more technical view on the circumstances of mining the mineral of Columbite-Tantalite found in the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as well as a little on Diamonds that are concentrated mainly in the south of DRC.
Columbite and Tantalite are related minerals, in fact there is complete solid solution between both end members. Columbite has the chemical formula (Fe,Mn)Nb2O6, Tantalite (Fe,Mn)Ta2O6. These minerals are collectively called Coltan in DR Congo but the more closer to the Tantalite end member, the more valuble the mineral.
Tantalum is the most economically valuble product from Coltan and the reason why is obvious. Tantalum is the raw material for electronic swithes that are used in everything from computers to mobile phones. Due to the revolution in the information industry and the massive increases in production, no wonder it is valuble. Coltan tripled its price in 2001.
Now! what does this have to do with civil war? I hear you ask. Well, the problem is that about half of the worlds economic deposits of tantalite in the world are in the Democratic Republic of Congo... a nation with a sad and violent past (and present!) and to get a proper background I'll have to give you a brief and very incomplete history of modern DRC and neigbouring countries.
For many, many years (not sure how many exactly) the president of DRC (then Zaire) was currupt and barbarous Mubutu Sesi Seko. Mubutu was kicked out of power in the mid 1990's and later died of cancer in a rich western country. Laurant Desire Kabila came to power and was sworn in at the stadium where Muhammed Ali had fought his 'rumbe in the jungle' against George Forman and were many people had been executed by Mubutu. Kabila had been a rebel leaded fighting against the US-backed governments of early leaders and Mubutu. Kabila had even had the help of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and many Cuban communists in the 1960's. Guevara synically said that Kabila would take 20 years to win the war... it did take that long!
Kabila attempted to bring order to DRC and to destroy the many rebel groups in the country. To do this he got assistance from Angola. Kabila bought a little more stability to the region but he died from an assasination attempt in early 2001
Now that the oil war is all but over, does anyone have any comment on the mobile phone war?
http://www.geocities.com/rodneys_geology/Congo-Coltan.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mobile phones are funding war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I'll attempt in this story to give a less depressing account and a more technical view on the circumstances of mining the mineral of Columbite-Tantalite found in the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as well as a little on Diamonds that are concentrated mainly in the south of DRC.
Columbite and Tantalite are related minerals, in fact there is complete solid solution between both end members. Columbite has the chemical formula (Fe,Mn)Nb2O6, Tantalite (Fe,Mn)Ta2O6. These minerals are collectively called Coltan in DR Congo but the more closer to the Tantalite end member, the more valuble the mineral.
Tantalum is the most economically valuble product from Coltan and the reason why is obvious. Tantalum is the raw material for electronic swithes that are used in everything from computers to mobile phones. Due to the revolution in the information industry and the massive increases in production, no wonder it is valuble. Coltan tripled its price in 2001.
Now! what does this have to do with civil war? I hear you ask. Well, the problem is that about half of the worlds economic deposits of tantalite in the world are in the Democratic Republic of Congo... a nation with a sad and violent past (and present!) and to get a proper background I'll have to give you a brief and very incomplete history of modern DRC and neigbouring countries.
For many, many years (not sure how many exactly) the president of DRC (then Zaire) was currupt and barbarous Mubutu Sesi Seko. Mubutu was kicked out of power in the mid 1990's and later died of cancer in a rich western country. Laurant Desire Kabila came to power and was sworn in at the stadium where Muhammed Ali had fought his 'rumbe in the jungle' against George Forman and were many people had been executed by Mubutu. Kabila had been a rebel leaded fighting against the US-backed governments of early leaders and Mubutu. Kabila had even had the help of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and many Cuban communists in the 1960's. Guevara synically said that Kabila would take 20 years to win the war... it did take that long!
Kabila attempted to bring order to DRC and to destroy the many rebel groups in the country. To do this he got assistance from Angola. Kabila bought a little more stability to the region but he died from an assasination attempt in early 2001
