February 9, 2005
Congo, which has logged success in stemming the flow of "blood" diamonds fuelling conflict, said on Wednesday it plans to extend the campaign to high-tech mineral coltan, mined by rebels in the east of the country. Coltan, essential for power storage in cell phones, is mined by hand in the Congo by small-scale miners scrapping off the surface mud in river banks.
The mineral, short for columbite-tantalite, is a metallic ore comprising niobium and tantalum and is found mainly in the eastern DRC. At the height of the five-year civil war that devastated the Democratic Republic of Congo, rebels were reported to be earning $20 million per month by mining coltan, also used in nuclear reactors and computer chips.
"We know coltan has a role in destabilising the east of Congo ... We are putting together a plan to boost the control of coltan," said Victor Kasongo, chief executive of Congo's Centre for Evaluation, Expertise and Certification. He said by next year, Congo will no longer export raw coltan, only coltan concentrate, a partially processed form of the mineral.
Congo saw a peace accord in 2003 and is a member of the Kimberly Process, which requires members to certify that rough diamonds they ship are not "conflict" diamonds sold by rebel groups to finance operations. Kasongo also said the DRC boosted diamond output in 2004 to 30 million carats worth $727 million compared to 25 million carats worth around $640 million the previous year.
The 2004 output makes Congo the world's second largest producer of diamonds in terms of carats, behind number one Botswana, he added.
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