Coltan-Conflicts, including the Rwandan occupation in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
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A piece of columbite-tantalite, size 6.0 x 2.5 x 2.1 cm
Coltan (short for columbite–tantalite and known industrially as tantalite) is a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium (formerly “columbium”) and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is columbite, and the tantalum-dominant mineral is tantalite.[1]
Tantalum from coltan is used to manufacture tantalum capacitors, used in consumer electronics products such as mobile phones, DVD players, video game systems and computers. Coltan mining has been cited[2][3] as helping to finance serious conflict, for example in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[4][5][6]
