RARE -- CHAPTER 9 -- GOLF CLUBS, IPHONES, AND TRIBAL WARS

CHAPTER 9 – GOLF CLUBS, IPHONES, and TRIBAL WARS

The author opens up the chapter with a statement on the metal tantalum and the role it has played in the miniaturization and increase in processing power of electronic communication devices, mostly due to its imperviousness to corrosion and efficiency to store charge as capacitors.  Tantalum is named after Tantalus, a tragic character in Greek mythology who was “condemned to a world of immense desires constantly within reach but of which he was forever unable to partake, leaving him to perpetually starve against a backdrop of plenty”.  The author was quick to point out the parallels between Tantalus’ story and the plight of the citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo where the majority, representing the labor force of the lucrative mining industry, are “unable to reap rewards” of their toil.  The Congo is blessed with a significant deposit of coltan ore from which tantalum is extracted, second only to gold in its value to miners.  From 1998-2003, Congo engaged in a war that killed 5 million people.  Tantalum became a character in this history because its mining financed the rebel factions on one side of this war.  The author then devotes several paragraphs on some background history of the Congo and the numerous wars it has had to endure before and after it gained its independence from Belgium, necessary, according to the author, to understand what has brought Congo to its current situation and how it has affected and has been affected by the mining of high-demand metals like tantalum [Actually, I reread these paragraphs again and I am not sure the author explicitly made any reference pertaining to the relationship to metals mining except to say that, under Belgian colonial rule, the resource exploited went from “rubber, then gold, then an alphabet soup of metals – the well being of those living in the region consistently takes a backseat to the land’s riches”.]    In Accra, capital of Ghana, the author points out a similar but less publicized deleterious effects of processing precious metals, this time from the other end.  Agbobloshie, a suburb in Ghana, along with countries like China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and India, have become the global dump, in the author’s words, for electronic refuse.  For many, scavenging and collecting metals of any value from circuit boards and CRT’s has become a source of income despite the health hazards they confront.  In addition, these dumping grounds have become a cesspool for metal rot, with toxic effluents leaching into soil and waterways.  In the section LEGISLATING ETHICS, the author talks about the role of local, national, and international legislations to pressure companies to look closely and examine the sources of their raw materials.  In the US, the author notes, “Lacking the legislative power to ban the import of metals from the Republic of Congo, reforms within the Dodd-Frank require companies to track the supply chain of conflict minerals and publicly acknowledge the use of questionable minerals obtained not only from the Congo but also the surrounding nations of Cameroon, Gabon, Zaire, and Angola.”  Apple Incorporated is one company mentioned by the author who had the self-initiative to look into whether tantalum, tungsten, and tin are so-called “conflict metals” after an e-mail prompt from an iphone user.  Both HP and Apple have heeded the public call to verify their sources and release information on companies they work with for the extraction and processing of these metals.  In the last paragraph, the author concedes that ethical sourcing is a huge benefit to the individual but the nation as a whole may suffer a reduction in the financial benefit of resource mining which inevitably trickles down to the citizens until the resource has been depleted.  The author ends with, “…it will be one of the great shames of the twenty-first century if the people and infrastructure of the Democratic Republic of the Congo fail to benefit”.

·         Tantalum is used in many mobile devices because of its corrosion-proof properties and its ability to increase the efficiency of capacitors [a device used to store an electric charge] allowing the diminution of electronic devices such as a smartphone and the increase in processing power.

·         Tantalum deposits are normally found along with tin and tungsten deposits.

·         At the beginning of the chapter, the author narrates the mythological story of the Greek figure Tantalus who was “condemned to a world of immense desires constantly within reach but of which he was forever unable to partake, leaving him to perpetually starve against a backdrop of plenty”.  The author was quick to point out the parallels between Tantalus’ story and the world that the citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has continue to live in where the majority, representing the labor force instrumental in bringing these precious metals to the surface, are “unable to reap rewards” of their toil.

·         The Congo is blessed with a significant deposit of coltan ore from which tantalum is extracted, “rivaled only by gold in the eyes of miners”.

·         From 1998-2003, Congo engaged in the “bloodiest war since World War II, with five million people killed as a result of the fighting”.  Tantalum is an intricate part of Congo’s history because its mining is what financed the rebel factions on one side of this war.

·         This chapter devotes a substantial portion on some background history of the Congo and the numerous wars it has had to endure before and after it gained its independence from Belgium, necessary, according to the author, to understand what has brought Congo to its current situation and how it has affected and has been affected by the mining of high-demand metals like tantalum [Actually, I reread these paragraphs again and I am not sure the author explicitly made any reference pertaining to the relationship to metals mining except to say that, under Belgian colonial rule, the resource exploited went from “rubber, then gold, then an alphabet soup of metals – the well being of those living in the region consistently takes a backseat to the land’s riches”.]

·          In Accra, capital of Ghana, the author points out a similar but less publicized deleterious effects of processing precious metals, this time from the other end.  Agbobloshie, a suburb in Ghana, along with countries like China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and India, have become the global dump, in the author’s words, for electronic refuse.  For many, scavenging and collecting metals of any value from circuit boards and CRT’s has become a source of income despite the health hazards they confront.  In addition, these dumping grounds have become a cesspool for metal rot, with toxic effluents leaching into soil and waterways.

·         In the section LEGISLATING ETHICS, the author talks about the role of local, national, and international legislations to pressure companies to look closely and examine the sources of their raw materials.  In the US, the author notes, “Lacking the legislative power to ban the import of metals from the Republic of Congo, reforms within the Dodd-Frank require companies to track the supply chain of conflict minerals and publicly acknowledge the use of questionable minerals obtained not only from the Congo but also the surrounding nations of Cameroon, Gabon, Zaire, and Angola.”

·         Apple Incorporated is one company mentioned by the author who had the self-initiative to look into whether tantalum, tungsten, and tin are so-called “conflict metals” after an e-mail prompt from an iphone user.  Both HP and Apple have heeded the public call to verify their sources and release information on companies they work with for the extraction and processing of these metals.

·         In the last paragraph, the author concedes that ethical sourcing is a huge benefit to the individual but the nation as a whole may suffer a reduction in the financial benefit of resource mining which inevitably trickles down to the citizens until the resource has been depleted.  The author ends with, “…it will be one of the great shames of the twenty-first century if the people and infrastructure of the Democratic Republic of the Congo fail to benefit”.