Coltan is a mineral found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is exploited for the tantalum it produces. This tantalum is used in many consumer electronics, including YOUR mobile phone or tablet. The price of coltan has sky-rocketed due to the high demand for electronics in Western culture. This has led to many people wanting to extract it and ultimately sell it, at the highest price...a human lives. The mining of coltan in the DRC has led to militias from neighbouring countries to illegally invade the coltan-rich Congo who holds 80 percent of the worlds reserves of the mineral in the world.. These groups of soldiers then do anything to get their hands on the mineral. This has lead to 15 years of war, assassinations, child slavery, genocides, rapes (up to 49 rapes per hour in some areas!), and the intentional spread of HIV/AIDS. The mining of coltan has also led to vast areas of forest to be cleared. Eliminating the habitat and food source of the local Mountain Gorillas. This has led to the population of gorillas to fall by 90 percent . Gorillas are even being killed by the militants in order to be sold as 'bushmeat' to the captive miners and their armies. If we act together, we can help bring attention to this unthinkable crime of humanity and put pressure on mobile phone companies and manufactures, to source their coltan from other countries, in order to stop them from fueling the violent war in the Congo and neighbouring countries.
