In Search of Congo's Coltan

Abstract

Background:

Bukavu is perched high above Lake Kivu. gently encroaching on the placid body of water between Rwanda and Congo. Once known as the pearl of Congo because of its beautiful climate and mountains, the  Bukavu I found last summer (2005) barely resembles the famed city I heard about as a child. In the past ten years, South Kivu province and its capital city of Bukavu have been known for two things; insecurity and coltan. I came for both. In anticipation of the country’s first multi party elections in four decades, I wanted to understand the potential effect of insecurity on the elections and learn first-hand the role minerals such as coltan play in fueling insecurity. Four times the size of France, and as big as the United States east of the Mississippi river, Congo holds 80 percent of the world's reserves of coltan, a heat-resistant mineral ore widely used in cellular phones, laptop computers and video games. The ore derives its name from a contraction of columbiumtantalite,, the scientific nomenclature.