Congo Fighting Revives Tainted Phone Fears

'Coltan' used in electronics is probably not from the war zone, but only a new test could prove it

By Jack Ewing

Small-scale miners search for cassiterite, better known as tin ore, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The country has one of the highest levels of deposits in the world, and young men work in dangerous conditions to extract the metal. Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images)

It sounded like a compelling story. During a visit to South Africa in October, I saw a news report in which a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo described in wrenching terms how demand for a metal used in consumer electronics is fueling a new outbreak of bloodshed in the mineral-rich region.

A bit of searching on Google (GOOG) supported the notion that mobile-phone users are helping create a humanitarian catastrophe because they make a market for illegally mined coltan ore from the war zone in eastern Congo. "Is there blood on your mobile phone?" asked Danish relief group DanChurchAid on a Web page that dates back to 2006 but is still available.

But when I began investigating, the truth turned out to be more nuanced—providing a lesson in how difficult it can be to know whether your buying habits are socially responsible. In fact, the story demonstrates how difficult it is for companies to be socially responsible even if they try.

A Tantalum Shortage in 2000

The mineral in question is known as coltan, which is actually African slang for ore that contains tantalum, a metal prized for electronics use because of its resistance to corrosion and heat. In fact, mobile phones do contain tantalum, as do a host of other products, including MP3 players, gaming consoles, and even aircraft engines. A typical Nokia (NOK) handset has a tantalum capacitor, a component that temporarily stores electrical charges, according to the Finnish handset maker.

The electronics industry is clearly sensitive to charges that it uses "conflict coltan," which was a big issue several years ago. In 2000, during an earlier round of fighting in the Congo that killed millions of people, fears of a global tantalum shortage—not related to the conflict—pushed the price of the refined product to as high as $300 per pound, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That's at least four times the current price. Tantalum became one of a host of minerals—including gold, tin, and cobalt—exploited by various factions in the Congo to purchase weapons or enrich themselves.

If you live in a lawless corner of the Congo, coltan might seem like an attractive business, at least compared to subsistence farming. The ore lends itself to so-called artisanal mining: Local people can dig it up and concentrate it using homemade sluices, similar to how California pioneers panned for gold. Guerilla factions in the Congo, as well as their government backers in countries such as Rwanda or Uganda, make money by controlling the coltan mines directly or by extracting payoffs from small-scale miners and dealers.

Not So Much Congolese Tantalum

The coltan trade was even lucrative enough to attract the international arms mafia. According to a 2003 U.N. report, one coltan smuggler was Viktor Bout, a notorious former KGB agent now being held in a Thai jail as he fights extradition to the U.S. on charges he supplied weapons to terrorist groups. Bout used a fleet of cargo planes to haul loads of illegally mined coltan and other minerals from the Congo to foreign buyers, according to the U.N. "There are profits to be made because it can be moved relatively easily," says Jason Burkitt, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London who follows the mining industry. "It lends itself to entrepreneurial types, whether they're local business people or warlords."

But does that mean your mobile phone is helping General Laurent Nkunda—whose ethnic Tutsi militia recently overran swaths of eastern Congo—buy AK-47s and land mines? That would be a stretch. As it happens, the Congo is not a major source of tantalum. Most comes from Australia, followed by Canada and such African countries as Ethiopia and Mozambique. The U.S. Geological Survey groups the Congo under "other" tantalum sources that together account for just 2% of world production. Recycled tantalum also is available. Even tantalum from the Congo isn't necessarily tainted: Foreign and domestic companies mine it legally in some areas, providing an important source of livelihood.