Tantalum mining and brutal conflict in eastern Congo go hand in hand
A conflict has been raging in Central Africa for over three decades, and has rarely made the front pages since the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been very tense for several months. UN observers fear that the region is on the brink of a regional war. Yet everyone who picks up an electronic device in their everyday life is very likely to be holding a piece of Congo in their hand that links them to the conflict.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is particularly rich in the very materials without which our technological everyday life would grind to a halt. The country is one of the world's leading producers of tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold, also known as 3TG, the conflict minerals as defined in the US Dodd-Frank Act [i] and the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation [ii] . Both laws are a response to the more than 30-year-long conflict in Central Africa. The EU regulation has required companies importing these minerals to conduct due diligence in their supply chains since 2021. This requirement has been in place in the US since 2010.
World's largest neglected refugee crisis
Eastern Congo is particularly plagued by violent clashes between over 100 different armed groups. Civilians are victims of massacres and extreme sexual violence [iii] — the number of displaced people in the northeast of the country alone is 5,5 million. [iv] It is the world's largest neglected refugee crisis. [v] The eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, bordering Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda, are also home to the concentrated deposits of coltan, the ore from which tantalum is extracted. [vi]
Tantalum is very rare on earth and is valued for its extremely stable and heat-resistant properties. The number one application for tantalum is the electronics industry. It is found in small quantities in capacitors, small electrical components used to store electrical charge - for example on circuit boards, which are found in every electronic device. An estimated 60 percent of global tantalum production goes to the electronics industry.
Tantalum is indispensable for computer chips, the second most important application. Against the backdrop of the technology war with China, the USA tightened its export regulations for semiconductor manufacturing products in October 2023. Tantalum is also found in fighter jets, where its heat resistance means it is used as an alloy in engines, thus increasing fuel efficiency. In smartphones, tantalum is also found in RF filters in the antennas.
Growing demand for tantalum
Market observers also anticipate increasing demand for tantalum, particularly as an alloy and in connection with 5G technology. Tantalum could also become important as an anode coating for electric vehicle batteries. [vii] Due to its excellent biocompatibility, tantalum is also of great interest for medical applications such as implants. [viii]
In 2023, the Democratic Republic of Congo produced approximately 980 tons of oil, mostly mined in North and South Kivu. [ix] It is precisely in these regions that the government in Kinshasa completely lost control of large areas months ago and blames Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda. He is alleged to support the March 23 Movement (M23), a group largely composed of Tutsis that broke away from the Congolese army in 2012. A UN expert report [x] from December provides serious evidence for the accusation from Kinshasa. According to the report, the Rwandan government supports the M23 not only with weapons and equipment, but also with soldiers from the regular Rwandan army.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is the leading producer of tantalum and held a global market share of approximately 35 percent in 2023. According to other sources, Rwanda overtook its neighbor, which is 90 times larger in area, in tantalum production in 2023. [xi]
Rwanda: Accusation of looting
For years, the government in Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of plundering the mineral resources in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with the help of the M23 rebel group and smuggling them into neighboring Uganda and Rwanda, while the international community looks the other way. According to Finance Minister Nicolas Kazadi, the Democratic Republic of Congo loses almost one billion US dollars annually due to these looting operations. [xii] Since Rwanda has few deposits, it is obvious that everything originates in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kazadi told the Financial Times. [xiii]
In Rwanda's capital, Kigali, all of this is denied. The US and France have called on Rwanda in the UN Security Council to withdraw from the Congo and end its support for M23. [xiv] But the government in Kinshasa has also been called upon to end its armed forces' cooperation in the fight against M23 with armed groups that also commit heinous crimes against civilians. There is also evidence that the rival groups are cooperating in the smuggling of raw materials. [xv]
Congolese President Tshisekedi is fighting for international attention to the situation in his country and last fall, in a highly publicized move, commissioned an international team of lawyers to examine the possibility of a lawsuit against Apple. The US corporation is suspected of using raw materials smuggled from the Congo in its devices. [xvi] The company has not yet responded to a letter the lawyers sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook at the end of April, which the lawyers interpret as evidence that their questions are putting the company in a difficult position, preventing it from providing precise answers. [xvii]
Collapse of the verifiability of responsible procurement
Apple's mandatory reports show that there is no reason to believe that the refineries from which the company purchases tin, tungsten and tantalum are directly or indirectly financing armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo or its neighboring countries. The UN experts warn that the ores from the coltan mines around the small town of Rubaya in the province of North Kivu are specifically being circulated using labels from the International Tin Association's ITSCI system for mineral traceability. According to the UN report, the ores mined in Rubaya are also being smuggled to Rwanda.
The ITSCI program suspended its activities in North Kivu on April 30 after M23 rebels seized control of the area. [xviii] The ITSCI labels are designed to facilitate mining in unstable countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo while guaranteeing that the mining does not finance armed groups, violate human rights, promote child labor, or encourage corruption. Every bag of mined ore is supposed to be traceable back to the mine using the ITSCI system.
However, observers say the traceability system is not working well. Mining takes place in remote and difficult-to-monitor areas, often in artisanal operations. The miners work with rudimentary equipment, frequently without licenses. The coltan extracted in this way is transported at night to legal mines, according to a 2022 EU-funded report. [xix] Official labels are also available on the black market. "Users cannot be certain about the origin of the tantalum elements in their electronic devices," the report continues.
The industry itself has criticized the ITSCI because data is only published with a one-year delay, and weight figures for mined ore are aggregated for the entire region instead of broken down by country. This makes it impossible to verify whether Rwanda's production actually comes from its own mines or whether the smuggling allegations are true. [xx]
Tantalum Chart 2011 to present – Source: Screenshot WWW.ISE-AG.COM
Bloody conflict and tantalum mining are not mutually exclusive
In any case, the flare-up of the conflict since the end of 2021 is unlikely to have a negative impact on the supply of world markets or the price of tantalum. History could even suggest the opposite: the conflict in eastern Congo has been going on continuously since 1994, with few interruptions. However, tantalum production there has picked up speed since the turn of the millennium. This coincides with the rise of Silicon Valley, the boom in the electronics industry and mobile phones.
At the same time, Australia ceased to be the most important tantalum producer, having previously extracted the metal as a byproduct of lithium mining. This led to a temporary sixfold increase in the price, which resulted in a boom in small-scale mining in eastern Congo and ushered in Central Africa's pivotal role in the global supply of tantalum. [xxi] In 2009 alone, the trade in and mining of coltan employed around 300.000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Other significant producing countries include Brazil, Nigeria, and China, with Australia and Brazil claiming 60 percent of the world's tantalum reserves. [xxii]
EU supports Rwanda with weapons and money
How is it that, despite the due diligence obligations of Western companies, conflict minerals still find their way into everyday consumer goods? One reason is that in the EU, for example, only importers of raw ores are obliged to do so, i.e. refineries and smelters. For companies that process or manufacture intermediate and final products that contain these metals, the regulation only applies indirectly.
Another problem from an African perspective is the financial support Rwanda receives from Western countries. While these countries urge Rwanda to withdraw from the Congo, the small nation simultaneously receives weapons and money from the West. For example, Poland sold weapons worth almost five million euros to Rwanda in 2022. In return, Rwanda exported primarily tungsten and tin to Poland. [xxiii]
The EU is currently planning to support Rwanda with €40 million. The money is intended for non-lethal military equipment and air transport for Rwandan soldiers who have been deployed in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado since 2021. Their mission there is to suppress the Mozambican branch of the Islamic State, which is hindering the activities of the French oil company Total Energie. Total is planning a €20 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the region, which has been delayed for years. [xxiv] Rwanda already received €20 million from the EU Peace Facility for this military operation in 2022. [xxv]
ISE AG – August 2024 – Arndt Uhlendorff
