DRC: Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo Mine for Coltan and Face Abuse to Supply Smartphone Industry

Feb 29, 2020 | Esdras Tsongo, ABC News
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Years of violence and political conflict across the Democratic Republic of Congo have made its vast mineral wealth an attractive revenue raiser — and rebel groups will do whatever it takes to control supply. As a result, the coltan mining industry, and the prized metal tantalum extracted from it, is a "conflict mineral", closely linked to a range of human rights abuses in a similar way that Africa's so-called blood diamonds are also sold to fund conflict.