Coltan and Congo: the implication of the private sector
\nColtan is a rare metal ore used for the production of capacitors and other high-tech applications. It is mined in several countries in Africa, Asia and the U.S. and later refined by a small number of processing companies in Germany, the U.S., Kazakhstan and the Far East (see frame: coltan, the black gold). For the high-tech industry, coltan proves a key-source to manufacture their electrical components. As a result, consumers of this precious mineral include some of the largest mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola and Ericsson and computer industries such as Alcatel, Compaq, Dell and IBM.<\/p>\n