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Topic: Coltan

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	mopocket » Blog Archive » Coltan and Your Mobile: A MOpocket Repentance And Mobile Community Call To Action
		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.
		Coltan is mined by hand in the Congo by groups of men digging basins in streams by scrapping off the surface mud.
		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.
	www.mopocket.com /2006/10/coltan_and_your_mobile_a_mopoc.php (2187 words)

	Coltan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Coltan is the colloquial African name for (columbite-tantalite), a metallic ore comprising Niobium and Tantalum.
		Coltan smuggling has also been implicated as a major source of income for the military occupation of Congo.
		It is also alleged that coltan mining could have severe environmental repercussions on the forests and wildlife in the area, in particular the Gorilla, as noted.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Coltan (707 words)

	A Black Mud From Africa Helps Power the New Economy
		Coltan, once it is refined in American and European factories, becomes tantalum, a metallic element that is a superb conductor of electricity, highly resistant to heat.
		One coltan moment that particularly nauseates authorities occurred this spring in Epulu, when a drunken miner and a seminaked prostitute fornicated in broad daylight on the lawn of the primary school, in front of village children.
		Tegera is well aware of coltan's destructive side: he is the lead author of a study on the severe social impact of coltan mining, which describes how teachers have been lured to the mines from the country's few functioning classrooms and explains why teenage girls have turned to prostitution.
	www.stpt.usf.edu /~jsokolov/211pygmy1.htm (4715 words)

	Coltan
		Coltan (columbite-tantalite[?]) is a fl tar-like sand used to produce tantalum mostly for use in capacitors, used in a vast array of small electronic devices, especially in mobile phones, laptop computers[?], pagers, and the like.
		A recent UN Security Council report charged that a great deal of it is illegally mined and smuggled out of Congo by armies from Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, occupying the eastern region of Congo.
		They are alleged to sell this mineral, and others that they mine, in order to finance their occupation; to many, this raises ethical questions akin to those of blood diamonds.
	www.ebroadcast.com.au /lookup/encyclopedia/co/Coltan.html (212 words)

	Coltan, Gorillas and cellphones (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
		Coltan, short for Columbite-tantalite is a metallic ore comprising Niobium and Tantalum, found mainly in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formally Zaire).
		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.
	www.cellular-news.com /coltan (931 words)

	Guns, Money and Cell Phones - Global Issues
		Coltan - which is found in 3 billion-year-old soils, like those in the Rift Valley region of middle Africa, western Australia and central Asia - has become a critical raw material in high-tech manufacturing.
		The rebel groups also are believed to mine coltan directly, using laborers (sometimes prisoners) to extract the ore, then smuggle it out of the country.
		Sometimes coltan convoys run by one rebel group are hijacked by enemy rebels, only to be resold to other traders.
	www.globalissues.org /Geopolitics/Africa/Articles/TheStandardColtan.asp (3202 words)

	New Page 2
		Coltan is mined through a fairly primitive process similar to how gold was mined in California during the 1800s.
		There are reports that forces from neighboring Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi are involved in smuggling coltan from Congo, using the revenues generated from the high price of coltan to sustain their efforts in the war.
		The path that coltan takes to get from Central Africa to the world market is a highly convoluted one, with legitimate mining operations often being confused with illegal rebel operations, and vice versa, making it difficult to trace the origin.
	www.un.int /drcongo/war/coltan.htm (552 words)

	BBC News \| AFRICA \| Congo's coltan rush
		Regional analysts say the international demand for coltan is one of the driving forces behind the war in the DRC, and the presence of rival militias in the country.
		Foreign criticism of child labour in the coltan mines must be put into the context of Congo.
		What would be cause for concern in the long term is if coltan were to be such big business for so long that the peasants forgot their farming skills in the way that some Central African villagers have forsaken logging for oil jobs.
	news.bbc.co.uk /2/hi/africa/1468772.stm (575 words)

	NPR - Radio Expeditions: Coltan Mining and Eastern Congo's Gorillas
		In May, Radio Expeditions reported illegal coltan miners were endangering some of the world's great wildlife parks in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
		Coltan - a contraction of the actual ore name -- coloumbo-tantalite -- is a source of the element tantalum -- an essential coating for components of many modern electronic devices, especially cell-phones and computers.
		The report accuses them of massive looting of natural resources, and lists coltan as the most prominent reason for the continuation of the war -- along with gold, diamonds and timber.
	www.npr.org /programs/re/archivesdate/2001/dec/20011220.coltan.html (610 words)

	Coltan
		It is a double tragedy that the sudden increase in coltan prices has led to social and ecological destruction, rather than providing an opportunity to bring lasting benefits to the people by careful exploitation of legally mined deposits.
		Coltan mining, with safe mines and environmentally responsible practices, could yet turn out to be a boon to the region.
		The concept of "Certified Coltan" needs to be introduced immediately to the world market, and mineral dealers must act quickly if they are not to be tainted with the decadence of the Coltan Boom in Congo.
	www.berggorilla.de /english/gjournal/texte/22coltan.html (1364 words)

	Julian Cope presents Head Heritage \| U-Know! \| Features \| Gorilla Killers: The Environmental Cost of Electronics
		Since the war and coltan mining, the population halved in five years, and has halved again in the subsequent five years to around 5,000 today, and the numbers are falling.
		The UN described coltan trading as 'the engine of the war,' confirming that all parties are using coltan as their funding source.
		They get their raw coltan from a number of sources, including the British-based A&M Minerals & Metals, who said 'it would be silly for us to try to pretend that we know the origin'.
	www.headheritage.co.uk /uknow/features/index.php?id=41 (1721 words)

	Columbite-tantalite (COLTAN) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
		COLTAN (Columbite-Tantalite) is a dull metallic ore found in major quantities in the eastern areas of Congo.
		Besides Congo, COLTAN is mainly extracted in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and China.
		The recent technology boom and low availability of COLTAN caused a substantial increase in the price to almost $400 USD per kilogram at one point, as supply struggled to meet the demands of companies such as Nokia and Sony.
	www.engineering.com /content/ContentDisplay?contentId=41010019 (445 words)

	What is Coltan? - Security Council - Global Policy Forum
		Coltan is mined through a fairly primitive process similar to how gold was mined in California during the 1800s.
		There are reports that forces from neighboring Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi are involved in smuggling coltan from Congo, using the revenues generated from the high price of coltan to sustain their efforts in the war.
		The path that coltan takes to get from Central Africa to the world market is a highly convoluted one, with legitimate mining operations often being confused with illegal rebel operations, and vice versa, making it difficult to trace the origin.
	www.globalpolicy.org /security/natres/generaldebate/2001/0907cobalt.htm (664 words)

	congo-coltan
		Coltan is increasingly exploited in the mountains in the conflict torn eastern part of the country.
		At the end of last year when the demand for coltan was so large due to the increase in demand of tantalum, refined coltan essential for the production of cell phones, PlayStations and laptops, Mama Doudou left her position as a traditional chief.
		The economic benefits of mining coltan draw people from their homes and families, but the social and humanitarian consequences of the mining camps and war is unfortunate and terrible.
	www.american.edu /ted/ice/congo-coltan.htm (2056 words)

	Seeing is believing: Cell Phone
		The mountainous jungle area where the coltan is mined is the battleground of what has been grimly dubbed "Africa's first World War," pitting Congolese forces against those of six neighbouring countries and numerous armed factions.
		Coltan -- short for colombo-tantalite -- is refined into tantalum, a "magic powder" essential to many electronic devices.
		Mined much like gold, coltan is found by digging large pits in riverbeds, with armies of miners scraping away dirt to get to the coltan underground.
	www.seeingisbelieving.ca /cell/kinshasa (896 words)

	Ifs, Ands and Buts
		Kitt watched as Coltan exited the cabin with military crispness and cautiously approached the burning hulk of the sedan.
		It wasn't that Coltan was a sadist or loved death; he just didn't hate it as much as Kitt did.
		Coltan had never disobeyed the rules of engagement, but he also never bothered to think of a different approach, once the minimum conditions had been met.
	homepages.shu.ac.uk /~engkd2/ifsands.htm (1382 words)

	AfricaFiles \| DR Congo: The coltan phenomenon (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
		Coltan mining is a phenomenon allowing large flows of money in the territory, but this has negative consequences like falling school enrolment rates (for example Walikale ISP with six departments has only 34 students) and rising prices for basic necessities.
		A: Coltan mining, which here is called "Mangano", is an unprecedented source of income for many men and women, so that entire households come to live in the mines and keep their children out of school.
		However, even if coltan mining appears to be an easy way to earn money in a time of prolonged crisis, the tendency to abandon agricultural activities in favour of coltan and the rising prices of foodstuffs means a risk of food insecurity in the short, medium and long term in rural and urban areas.
	www.africafiles.org /article.asp?ID=924 (13237 words)

	Introduction
		Coltan is a relatively rare metal that is specifically used to make capacitors for cell phones.
		Coltan is found in countries all over the world, from Brazil to Canada (De Bendern; Bond and Braeckman 1).
		Despite all of the problems the coltan mining has caused, some argue that the mining issue should be left alone because it is benefiting some of the Congolese people.
	academic.udayton.edu /BradHume/phone/labor/mining.htm (3040 words)

	Coltan
		'Coltan' is an abbreviation used only in parts of Africa for 'columbo-tantalite', it is a local name or nickname.
		Tantalite is the mineral or ore, and tantalum is the metallic element which can be extracted (or refined) from the ore. 'Coltan' from central Africa is only a minor source of tantalum.
		A concentrate may contain 10 to 40% Ta, its commercial value is calculated on the tantalum oxide content (which could therefore be as little as one-tenth of the total weight of the material).
	www.tanb.org /coltan.html (184 words)

	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
		This phenomenon has led to a population exodus of all age groups with the aim of finding coltan; \par {\listtext\pard\plain\f3\cf1\lang2057\langfe1036\langnp2057 \loch\af3\dbch\af0\hich\f3 \'b7\tab}as a result, agricultural and pastoral activities are being abandoned i n favour of coltan.
		Somigl was to deal mainly with artisanal coltan mining and received the export monopoly on all coltan produced in RCD territory, as set out in the interminitserial decree 43 of 20 November 2000.
		Also the financial gains from coltan must be shared equitably in order to avoid dissatisfactio n which often leads to armed confrontation between populations, especially by investing in community interests.
	www.pole-institute.org /documents/polinst_coltan.rtf (12992 words)

	Desperate miners hack it from mud holes. Paid only a pittance, they risk bandits, landslides and death. Their efforts ...
		Short for columbite-tantalite, coltan is an ore rich in the element tantalum which, in these digital days, is something of a wonder mineral.
		Coltan ore prices shot up, with per-pound charges for refined powder climbing from less than $50 to a peak of over $400 by the end of 2000.
		Yet it is almost certain that Congolese coltan continues to reach the market unnoticed and unhindered and ultimately, most of these companies admit they have simply no way of knowing the original source of the coltan they obtain from central Africa.
	www.sundayherald.com /50196 (2609 words)

	Open Source » Blog Archive » Coltan in the Congo
		Coltan is certainly one of angles to understanding the conflict there, but it’s not the only commodity connected to conflict there.
		So maybe the Coltan angle is the wrong one, but the DRC is going through great changes at the moment that brings up all sorts of interesting issues.
		But I think you may have two proposals here–one to use coltan as the thin end of the wedge in a discussion of the Congo, and another to look at coltan as one of countless examples of how our consumption, however innocent it may seem, contributes directly to human suffering overseas.
	www.radioopensource.org /coltan-in-the-congo (3939 words)

	The Coltan Chain \| Needlenose
		Most foodstuffs are sold in the coltan mines and no longer in the traditional markets.
		Cabot did not come out and say that it wouldn't buy Tantalum from Congo until a number of solidly researched reports were out documenting what Coltan mining was doing to the region and there was political pressure to pass the House Resolution.
		They kept buying Coltan from Congo presumably because it was cheaper than their fixed price Australian supply contracts and because demand shot up in the 1990's.
	www.needlenose.com /node/view/879 (2019 words)

	Mobile Phones, Coltan and Civil War
		These minerals are collectively called Coltan in DR Congo but the more closer to the Tantalite end member, the more valuble the mineral.
		Almost all coltan produced in the DRC is exported from a single company in Kinshasa.
		Workers use spades to sluice the sediments and occasionally grains of coltan are recovered.
	www.geocities.com /rodneys_geology/Congo-Coltan.html (1042 words)

	Commentary: Coltan from Bill Hammack's Engineering & Life Radio Program
		Coltan is found in three billion year old soil, like that of the Rift Valley in Africa, which contains eighty percent of the world's supply.
		It has made the area attractive to neighboring countries, and Coltan has been a key force in accelerating the civil war within the Congo.
		And, no doubt, they will look back at the coltan wars and think them as quaint as the "nutmeg" wars of the 17th century.
	www.engineerguy.com /comm/4101.htm (467 words)

	The Democratic Republic of Congo - Global Issues
		For example the trade in coltan, a rare mineral used in computers and mobile phones, had social effects “akin to slavery”, the panel said.
		Given the substantial increase in the price of coltan between late 1999 and late 2000, a period during which the world supply was decreasing while the demand was increasing, a kilo of coltan of average grade was estimated at $200.
		Coltan has permitted the Rwandan army to sustain its presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
	www.globalissues.org /Geopolitics/Africa/DRC.asp (5181 words)

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