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Coltan (short for columbite–tantalites and known industrially as tantalite) is a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is columbite (after niobium's original American name columbium), and the tantalum-dominant mineral is tantalite. [1]
Coltan is the colloquial name for the mineral columbite-tantalum ("col-tan"). In the early 21st century coltan mining is associated with human rights violations such as child labour, systematic exploitation of the population by governments or militant groups, exposure to toxic chemicals and other hazards as a result of lax environmental protection, and general safety laws and regulations. [1]
The Rubaya mines, also known as the Bibatama Mining Concession, is a series of coltan mining sites near the town of Rubaya [1] in Masisi Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Officially, the mining license is held by Société Minière de Bisunzu Sarl (SMB), associated with Congolese senator Édouard Mwangachuchu . [ 2 ]
M23 illegally exports coltan and other minerals through Rwanda. [ 23 ] M23 and Rwandan president Paul Kagame claim that the group represents the interests of Tutsis , an ethnic minority in the DRC, which had previously been the target of the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.
Columbite, also called niobite, niobite-tantalite and columbate, with a general chemical formula of (Fe II,Mn II)Nb 2 O 6, is a black mineral group that is an ore of niobium. It has a submetallic luster, a high density, and is a niobate of iron and manganese.
The Comptoir Minier des Exploitations du Burundi S.A. (Burundi Mining Exchange, COMEBU) is privately owned. [1] COMEBU was granted a 25-year mining license to exploit coltan and cassiterite in the Commune of Kabarore, Kayanza Province, and cassiterite in Murehe, Kirundo Province.
The mineral group tantalite [(Fe, Mn)Ta 2 O 6] is the primary source of the chemical element tantalum, a corrosion (heat and acid) resistant metal.It is chemically similar to columbite, and the two are often grouped together as a semi-singular mineral called coltan or "columbite-tantalite" in many mineral guides.
For example, as worldwide demand for consumer electronics has increased, so has the demand for tantalum, or coltan (DCA 2006) and reportedly, "much of the finance sustaining the civil wars in Africa, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is directly connected to coltan profits" (DCA 2006, pp 1). A United Nations report has echoed ...