'Blood Tech': new black market
Dan Rook
Issue date: 3/2/09 Section: Opinion
It's becoming increasingly evident that the technology we use on a daily basis may be laced with the blood of innocents.
According to a CNN.com report, one of the main minerals used in the creation of cell phones, laptops, stereos and other popular forms of technology is being mined in Africa's war-torn Congo. The mineral, known as coltan, can be mined for a relatively cheap price and is then refined into what is commonly known as tantalum.
The worldwide supply of tantalum has been valued at $6 billion, and with the continued advances in technology that figure is bound to continually increase. Unlike legitimate countries that export tantalum (Australia is the world's leading exporter), the Congo is a nation dominated by warlords who slaughter innocent people without blinking an eye in order to take land that is rich in coltan.
Companies like Nokia, Intel and Sony, among many others, all purchase tantalum in the global market without knowing the exact source of their purchase. Therefore, a part of the cell phone you speak into or laptop you surf the Internet on could easily have come from a small corner of the world where a child and her family were murdered in order for warlords to gain control of coltan-rich land.
According to the Congo's minister of foreign affairs, the fighting over these minerals has led to the "assassinations of civilians, deportations, torture, rape and deliberate spreading of HIV/AIDS," as well as the displacement of millions of refugees. The entire scenario is very similar to the outrage over the export of diamonds from Africa that arose in the 1990s and inspired the acclaimed film, "Blood Diamond."
Unlike the diamond market, which has been severely clamped down on and regulated since the '90s, it seems that the market for coltan is much more difficult to monitor.
"Most of the components that we get [come] from third-party providers, so where they get their raw goods is hard to determine," Compaq spokesman Arch Currid said.
According to a CNN.com report, one of the main minerals used in the creation of cell phones, laptops, stereos and other popular forms of technology is being mined in Africa's war-torn Congo. The mineral, known as coltan, can be mined for a relatively cheap price and is then refined into what is commonly known as tantalum.
The worldwide supply of tantalum has been valued at $6 billion, and with the continued advances in technology that figure is bound to continually increase. Unlike legitimate countries that export tantalum (Australia is the world's leading exporter), the Congo is a nation dominated by warlords who slaughter innocent people without blinking an eye in order to take land that is rich in coltan.
Companies like Nokia, Intel and Sony, among many others, all purchase tantalum in the global market without knowing the exact source of their purchase. Therefore, a part of the cell phone you speak into or laptop you surf the Internet on could easily have come from a small corner of the world where a child and her family were murdered in order for warlords to gain control of coltan-rich land.
According to the Congo's minister of foreign affairs, the fighting over these minerals has led to the "assassinations of civilians, deportations, torture, rape and deliberate spreading of HIV/AIDS," as well as the displacement of millions of refugees. The entire scenario is very similar to the outrage over the export of diamonds from Africa that arose in the 1990s and inspired the acclaimed film, "Blood Diamond."
Unlike the diamond market, which has been severely clamped down on and regulated since the '90s, it seems that the market for coltan is much more difficult to monitor.
"Most of the components that we get [come] from third-party providers, so where they get their raw goods is hard to determine," Compaq spokesman Arch Currid said.
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