October 1st, 2006 by Justin Oberman
In the spirit of the Jewish New Year, a time when Jews all over the world repent for their sins (intentional ones as well as unintentional), I find it suitable to make an apology to any people in the Democratic Republic of Congo that may have suffered unimaginable injustices as a result of the mining for one of the major elements required to make mine and your mobile device. The element I am talking about is of course Columbite-tantalite (from here on referred to as Coltan). On its own it looks and feels like a very fertile soil, but when refined you get a highly heat-resistant metal powder called tantalum. Once refined, coltan has myriad uses, all of which pertain to its particular properties of being a dense mineral with the ability to withstand high temperatures and stress.To the high-tech industry this tantalum is a magic dust that is essential in making computer chips, stereo’s, VCR and DVD players and mobile phones. As such, coltan derivatives are used as capacitors in devices such as mobile phones and even complex missile guidance systems.
Coltan is mined by hand in the Congo by groups of men digging basins in streams by scrapping off the surface mud. They then “slosh” the water around the crater, which causes the Coltan ore to settle to the bottom of the crater where it is retrieved by the miners. A team can “mine” one kilo of Coltan per day. These situations can be dangerous. Mining pure coltan also has adverse health effects.
Since the turn of the century the recent explosion of cell phones outselling all electronic equipment combined has caused the demand for Coltan to surge. And while a fair majority of the worlds tantalum supply comes from legitimate mining operations in Australia, Canada and Brazil the recent demand for tantalum has caused a more sinister market to begin flourishing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where 80% of the world’s known coltan supply is subject to “highly organized and systematic exploitation.” There, warring rebel groups - many funded and supplied by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda - are exploiting coltan mining in the Eastern DRC to help finance political and human oppression, child enslavement, torture and war. The mining area is also within one of the main ranges of the threatened Eastern Lowland Gorilla and is causing environmental injustices with these creatures we share the earth with. Our demands for new shiny gadgets may in some way be attached to this. Your mobile device may be running on the blood of dead enslaved children, raped women and children, vilations of human rights and dignity, widespread poverty environmental repercussions on the forests and wildlife and the spread of HIV. These things are all linked.
At a recent Mobile Monday here in New York my good friend Bukeni Waruzi (director of Ajedi-ka / Projects Enfants Solidats) came to speak to us about human rights situation in the eastern DRC where he is using cell phone technology to help appointed villagers report human rights violations, especially regarding the kidnaping of children into the army or mining) when they occur. Uganda and Rwanda invaded Congo in 1998 to back rebels fighting the government and the war then sucked in armies from Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia. In April of 2001 the United Nations issues a report on the rape of resources from the DRC. In their findings field investigators reported that Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian rebels had looted and smuggled thousands of tons of coltan from the Congo into their countries to export to the global market, using the profits to finance their militias. Indeed, the official statistics provided by these countries’ governments - which many human-rights observers believe hide large amounts of black-market trading built on slave labour - show that Uganda and Rwanda dramatically increased the export of coltan following their occupation of northeastern Congo. For example, Uganda reported 2.5 tons of coltan exports a year before the conflict broke out in 1997. In 1999, the volume exploded to nearly 70 tons and doubled 2 years later. The scramble for those resources fuelled a four-year war in which 2 million people have died
This situation goes back to 2001.This past July the Congo has had their first elections in 40 somewhat years which has brought new hope to the region. Many of the countries have since withdrawn. However,that withdraw has caused a power vacuum that has increased the plundering. Members of some of the militias did not stay behind in the Eastern DRC because of the climate. Instead they have set up “illegitimate” mining shops. Now the Coltan problem (which is still beingf exploited by Congo’s neighboring countries), is also causing the Congolese government (specifically the army) to exploit their own children, forcing them to work in mines to dig for the substance often in dangerous and life threatening conditions and often as forced slaves, reported Bukeni. As disarmament and low to no payment being made to those serving in the military have begun to take place, Coltan smuggling has also been implicated as a major source of income for the military occupation of Congo which is also linked to forced child enlisting, rape and the rampant spread of HIV.
Bukeni also gave us a breakdown of the cell phone situation of the Eastern DRC which is very different then the reports we here from the Western DRC (near the capitol Kinshasa) where people are using their cell phones for all other types of uses such as exchanging money etc etc… The cell phone situation in the Eastern DRC, however, is as bleak as their human rights situation seems to be. 8 year olds are forced to dig in dangerous mines for a substance that is the key component for an electronic device that could vastly change their world but for which they will probably never be able to afford. And even if they did get a hold of one it is bounded by severe restrictions such as only being able to send 160 characters A DAY (so you can send 160 SMS’ provided each SMS was one character). This is not to mention the fact that the price of one minute is already more money than most in the Eastern DRC make in a week. This is a sick and disturbing circumstance and one that stinks of injustice. It is an inhumane irony that any American child would see as not being fair.
To their credit, mobile manufactures have begun in recent years to take notice of this and issue fair statements on their part. A similar controversy, after all, wracked the diamond industry in the late 1990s, when global demand for the gems helped finance civil wars in Sierra Leone, Angola and Liberia. Since then, the international community has clamped down on the diamond trade, imposing tougher import and export regulations. Many cell phone manufactures, like Nokia, are quick to point out that according their tantalum supplier none of the tantalum they receive is from the Congo… but they also fully admit that this is impossible to check. You see, the other problem is that with tantalum, such regulations may be difficult to enforce. The market for the metal is based on secretive and convoluted trade links subject to few international regulations, and the ore is not sold on regulated metals exchanges. Yet it is a 8 billion dollar industry, if not more.
Owing to the difficulty of distinguishing legitimate from illegitimate mining operations, several electronics manufacturers have decided to forgo central African Coltan altogether, relying on other sources. But it is not easy. Manufacturers rely on their “suppliers” which are Tantalum capacitor makers like Kemet of Greenville, S.C., the world’s largest tantalum capacitor maker and on the companies trading the minerals. These are the companies that are “the engine of the conflict in the DRC.” Its these companies that are the ones that have to not get their Coltan from central African dealers. But this is also tuff. As I mentioned before some 80 percent of the worlds Coltan comes from the DRC and most of that passes through several black market hands before its finally delivered to the refineries it what appears to be legitimate means.
There is very a discriminatory nature can do to prevent Coltan exploitation as it is not a “visible” component of cellphones that can be differentiated when shopping. Continuing pressure on circuit board manufacturers has lead to many demanding that their Coltan supplies only come from legitimate sources. Similar pressure on other users of Coltan can also help to ensure that only legitimately mined and sold Coltan is used in circuit boards. But this can only help a little. A mobile boycott would be silly and ineffective, only causing the demand and price to increase thus fueling the black-market and violence even more. Besides, as mentioned before, its simply to hard to trace and tell.
There are, however, three elements that I propose we in the mobile industry can look at and act upon to help alleviate some of the suffering. These are looking at the root of the problem, acting as individuals and an internal retrospective nature or prayer… what Jews refer to as Tshevua or repentance.
Lets look at the roots of the problem. One way of doing something is to shift our focus to the internal struggles that are effecting the Congo. While the illegitimate coltan trade is causing injustices these types travesties are also cyclical in nature, both injustices feeding off each other. Another way to ensure the legitimate mining of Coltan in the DRC is to look and help the problem internally. If we help organizations like Bukeni’s (which are using cell phones in beautifully ironic twist to help alleviate some of the problems it is responsible for) and put pressure and help end the instances of forced child labour by the Congolese military and militia groups we can systematically take away part of the main reasons those illegitimately mining Coltan find it so “cost effective.” This will also have the effect of helping reduce the devastation of rape and the spread of HIV through and allow legitimate and more environmentally friendly mines to flourish. Bukeni’s use of cell phones as a key tool in this process of ending injustices is a metaphor that the mobile industry should grasp and hold onto.
As individuals we can do something. We do not have to really change our mobile devices as much as we do. But if and when we do another alternative is one that I found very surprising. It is a well known fact that cell phone recycling programs like those organized by CollectiveGood extract several minerals like gold, silver and platinum, tin and other precious metals used in mobile devices via a very expensive procedure called turing.These recycling programs help alleviate some of the demand of these minerals from “suspicious markets” while still making them available for use. But I was shocked when Seth Heine, CEO of CollectiveGood (of which I am working on a separate story on) told me that of the many minerals that are extracted Tantalum is not one of them. The excuse supposedly lays somewhere in the realm of science but Heine assures me it could be done if they really wanted it to be done.
It should be considered… and I would imagine that there would be a good business in anyone that found the key to do it (not to mention a warm fuzzy feeling from doing some good). While some of that recycled Tantalum may be tainted with the blood of war, each recycled use of it would decrease the dependency of fueling the unjust importation of tantalum even more and thus wash away that blood with each turing process.
While this was a very abbreviated description of the situation I feel that it is my duty, and the duty of cell phone enthusiasts everywhere to take note and action in some way on this issue. You see the problem also spills over to other minerals such as the mining for cassiterite, or tin oxide and others which fuel and have their own impact on the issue along with coltan. As mentioned before, however, while recycling efforts are making dependancies on some of these minerals less, it is not being done for tantalum which, it appears, has the worst of the mining situations in the Congo and is a real tragedy.
But all of this cannot happen if we don’t change the way in which we think and perceive things in the mobile industry. All to often we get caught up in the flashy newness of it all… new phones, new applications new ways to make money. We must stop and think where all of this may be coming from. What is really making this possible. Usually when we do this we discover good things, and do not get me wrong, there are thousands of great and wonderful things about cell phones. But there is also something tainted, an injustice that cannot be ignored. Mobile bloggers, mobilists and mobile media can help as well. We can’t just make this an every so often news blip or blog post when there is no other news around. We need to bring this up in places like 3GSM and CTIA, on days when new phones are announced and big news is buzzing.
In industry with few ethical dilemmas it is appalling that we let one as big as this taint our core.
I have vowed to make this a project for the years to come. As we continue to benefit from the mobile medium it is important to remember those who do not and who do not by the very actions that make our benefits possible. It is the mobile communities responsibility.
With that I wish to apologize and repent to anyones whose lives I may have made hard, sad, burdensome or tragedy based on my purchase of, use of or making money from mobile devices and applications. I promise to do everything in my power to make your situation known and help solve this plight. I pray that you may find happiness this year and the years to come and that you and your family and friends can benefit as I have from the tools of your own labor and that this labor is no longer met with injustices and strife.
I beg for your forgiveness as the only way an American (and a major part of problem) can, with deep humility and sorrow and with a promise to take action against any pain I have caused, voluntarily or involuntarily.
I pray that the mobile community will help me and will find it in their hearts to do the same.
And to my Jewish friends, L’Shana Tova.
See you on Tuesday.
Technorati Tags: coltan, columbite-tantalite, congo, drc, nokia
March 12th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Hmm, which is the case: that “a fair majority of the worlds tantalum supply comes from legitimate mining operations in Australia, Canada and Brazil” or that “some 80 percent of the worlds Coltan comes from the DRC”? Is it just the Coltan raw material that comes from DRC, and other raw materials provide Tantalum from other raw materials? If so, why not ban trade in Coltan? Who refines Coltan into Tantalum — can they be regulated?