Mashing up some data from Ushahidi and a number of reports on the mining of coltan (columbite and tantalite) it’s easy to see the correlation between heavily mined areas and the conflict regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As you can see in the graphic above, red indicates reports of incident captured at drc.ushahidi.com while the blue illustrates areas where coltan is mined. Of course there’s a lot of other mining going on in these areas as well, but I was interested mainly in coltan mining for the purpose of this infographic. As usual, you can find the highres image at flickr.
Text from the graphic:
Columbite and Tantalite are mineral resources found in many parts of the world. However in the Democratic Republic of Congo, illegal coltan extraction only adds to the many other problems and conflicts plaguing of the region. Coltan has been discovered in many parts of the world including Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Afghanistan, Finland, the United States, Australia, Canada, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and China. Buyers of coltan have be encouraged to avoid purchasing coltan from DRC on ethical grounds.
Tantalite is used primarily for the production of capacitors, for applications requiring high performance, small compact format and high reliability. This ranges from hearing aids, pacemakers, airbags, GPS systems, anti-lock brakes in automobiles, laptop computers, mobile phones, video game consoles and digital cameras.
Australia currently produces most of the world’s coltan. However it’s estimated that over 60 percent of the world’s coltan reserves are located in DRC. Most coltan refineries are located in East Asia. Here factories chemically process it with other minerals which can be sold to manufacturers for use in parts.
Many of the worlds leading technology companies use coltan in the consumer electronic products we use everyday (the Wii, Playstation, iPhone, Computers etc). Since the turn of the century most have implemented measures to ensure that most of their coltan is not coming from Congo. Who are some of them? Apple, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Nokia, Nintendo.
However, it’s the illegal trade and smuggling of columbite and tantalite that is in part feuling the conflicts of DRC. Coltan smugglers operating near the borders of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi have been directly linked to various DRC militias. It’s estimated that 5.4 million people have died in the Congolese conflicts since 1998.
Sources:
"it’s easy to see the correlation between heavily mined areas and the conflict regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo."
How do you know this isn't just a correlation between heavily mined areas and the regions where people submit Ushahidi reports? In other words, is there a way to prove correlation between number of Ushahidi incidents and levels of violence? Would other data (such as number of deaths, number of reported sexual assaults) be more reliable?
@Adam I'm pretty sure that the info coming in from Ushahidi for congo is not user submitted but rather, comes from reports of conflict from official sources, local ngos and multinational parties. I could have gathered similar info from almost any source reporting on conflict areas in DRc. I just happen to choose Ushahidi because they had the data readily available.
Interesting post, Jonathan. The Enough Project and I have been doing a lot of work on this issue recently. I invite you also to read a paper my colleague and I put out on this recently – http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/mine-mo…
Oh wow, I wish I had your report yesterday when I was producing this, I could have included some of your data. thanks for posting it!
You say that Apple, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Nokia, Nintendo all no longer buy Coltan from the Congo. I'm curious where you got this information? When I have inquired to all these companies they told me they couldn't be sure where it was sourced and had no model in place to stop it.
Rebecca, I think you've inferred something I didn't say. I said these companies have implemented measures to ensure most of their coltan is not coming from Congo. That's not the same as saying 'they no longer buying from Congo'. I'm just saying that they avoid it. How?
By avoiding the direct purchase from DRC-inked suppliers (and dealing with suppliers from the many other countries that have reserves). Most of these companies actually cannot determine where the coltan is coming from because of the nature of the business (illegal selling and mining or lack of disclosure from refineries) in which case I'm sure (but don't know for a fact) that many of them are interested in methods for actually proving that their coltan is 'conflict free'.
Additionally, Australia is the world's number 1 supplier of tantalite according to the Roskill Mineral Report which I cited and linked above, and used in the graphic. Of course I don't know any of this for a fact, this is just what I could gather from the works that I cited. If you find some definitive answers please do post them in the comments here!
I do know that since a massive spike in the year 2000, the pr backlash and reduced world demand coupled with more sources has reduced the need for Congo's coltan in general.
More here – http://www.roskill.com/reports/tantalum
Rebecca, I think you've inferred something I didn't say. I said these companies have implemented measures to ensure most of their coltan is not coming from Congo. That's not the same as saying 'they no longer buying from Congo'. I'm just saying that they avoid it. How?
By avoiding the direct purchase from DRC-inked suppliers (and dealing with suppliers from the many other countries that have reserves). Most of these companies actually cannot determine where the coltan is coming from because of the nature of the business (illegal selling and mining or lack of disclosure from refineries) in which case I'm sure (but don't know for a fact) that many of them are interested in methods for actually proving that their coltan is 'conflict free'.
Additionally, Australia is the world's number 1 supplier of tantalite according to the Roskill Mineral Report which I cited and linked above, and used in the graphic. Of course I don't know any of this for a fact, this is just what I could gather from the works that I cited. If you find some definitive answers please do post them in the comments here!
I do know that since a massive spike in the year 2000, the pr backlash and reduced world demand coupled with more sources has reduced the need for Congo's coltan in general.
More here – http://www.roskill.com/reports/tantalum
You say that Apple, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Nokia, Nintendo all no longer buy Coltan from the Congo. I'm curious where you got this information? When I have inquired to all these companies they told me they couldn't be sure where it was sourced and had no model in place to stop it.
It is definitely interesting to see the graphics and to see the physical connection of mining efforts and outbreaks of conflict. Thanks for bringing the issue to light in this way!
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to infer incorrectly there about what you had said. I was just very surprised to hear you say that these companies are even taking measures to stop buying conflict metals… From my own research I have found this NOT to be true. From what I can tell, they have no models in place for prevention and are really not taking a strong initiative in this direction. They are spouting a lot of CSR lingo, but not backing it up with any real proof.
In reality, these companies have no idea where their metal is coming from. Trying to find out the full sourcing details is next to impossible and the companies are doing their very best to make sure we can't ever find out where it call comes from, using competition reasons as an excuse to exclude us from finding out. Buyer Beware doesn't exist. From my experience, you can't find out the true sources even if you wanted to. I write about this issue frequently here: http://en.wordpress.com/tag/my-quest-for-a-confli…
It is also not just coltan, but aluminum, gold, copper, and many other metals and minerals that are problematic. It's also not just in the DRC, but worldwide, across Africa, South America, Asia and even in parts of North America. I have been using twitter lately to spread these stories of mining abuses (http://twitter.com/miningconflict). Sadly, it's a much bigger problem than most people realize.
Hey, thanks for the insightful comments. I'm certainly no expert on this subject, I just thought it would make an interesting graphic. =) That said, more work in this area is definitely needed to ensure that these minerals are being mined ethically and as humanely as possible. I'd be interested in learning more, especially from someone as close to the issue as yourself.
Good start and a beautiful graphic. I think a lot of people will look at your graphic and infer that there is a relationship between violent incidents and mines: there may well be, but the data you've used doesn't show anything of the sort. To prove this point, though, the two datasets which could be statistically compared and visualised might be mortality rates and IDP flows before and after the arrival of mining operations. Take up the challenge!