Coltan.

This is coolbert:

In the previous blog, I mentioned how the continuing war in the Congo basin is primarily over resources. Who will control them, extract them, and get financial reward from the possession of.

The control of resources is a fundamental reason why many nations go to war. One can think off hand of the Alsace-Lorraine region of Europe. Coveted by both Germany and France for the coal and iron ore deposits. And one can understand how with the current conflict and conflicts in the Middle East, the control of, or the access to the oil deposits of the region are essential not only to the U.S., but to the entire world as well.

Resources are a reason nations go to war. A nation deprived of access to necessary resources is said to have a legitimate reason to go to war!

The Congolese basin war is obviously about controlling the very rich natural resources that exist in the Congo in ABUNDANCE. Timber, gold, diamonds [not quite sure in what profusion they exist as compared to say Sierra Leone or South Africa??], copper, cobalt, at one time uranium [in the years prior to World War Two [WW2], only in the Congo and in Czechoslovakia were deposits of uranium found. Having the Congolese deposit of uranium available to the allied nations was essential to the development of the first atomic bomb!!], etc. A VERY rich area natural resource wise.

And COLTAN. An ore absolutely essential to the micro-electronics world. I work in electronics, and ONLY after reading the article in the National Geographic was I aware that this ore even existed. Seems to be an ESSENTIAL element used in tantalum capacitors. NOT available in the same quantities or purity ANY WHERE else in the world other than the Congo basin [this seems to be disputed by various web sites.]. An ore of ABSOLUTE necessity to the advanced nations of the western world. Without this ore being available, the technology and entire structure of the western world would be threatened, at least in the near term.




Read further about coltan by clicking here.

It would seem that the process being used to mine and extract the coltan from the Congo basin resembles something that would have been seen in the Gold Rush of 49' [1849 that is, California!!]. Pick and shovel labor, panning, with a whole lot of manual labor required to extract even small amounts of coltan. It would not surprise me if the labor is either impressed, indentured, or even slave. Persons receiving only a minimal reward for their hard manual labor, if that!!

[the mining of coltan is also extremely destructive to the rain forest environment, period!! Of course, to the militia leaders, this is not even a consideration!!]

The leaders of the various militias understand very well the value of coltan, and are undoubtedly vying constantly to control the resource, knowing full well that the value of the coltan is not only worth monetary value, but value in POWER as well!! He who controls the coltan is the one the advanced nations of the world must bargain with and respect, no matter how despicable the militia "leader" is!!

coolbert.