Ever wonder what makes a cell phone vibrate? The short answer is a mineral called Tungsten. How about storing up electricity in a mobile device? Answer: a mineral called Tantalum. Tin is used for soldering the tee-tiny circuitry in mobile devices and other electronics. Gold is used for coating wires.
The more important question, however, is where manufacturers are getting these minerals to help feed the world's insatiable need for mobile devices and other consumer electronics, like DVD players, gaming devices, laptops and digital cameras.
A good chunk of what are euphemistically being called "conflict minerals" are coming from the Congo, home to the deadliest war since World War II. The International Rescue Committee estimates that as many 45,000 people are being murdered there each month. More than five million have been killed since 1998.
Meanwhile 20% of the world's supply of Tantalum, for example, comes from the Congo and its profits are lining the pockets to arm the very same militia groups responsible for genocide and the systematic and widespread rape of women and young girls. The Congo is truly hell on earth.
Continue reading the article at: inc.com
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