ever heard of coltan?

[timouse]

it's a mineral that is the main source of tantalum, a metal that is an ingredient in capacitors.

turns out that most of the coltan is controlled by the democratic republic of congo. Link

In 2002, the UN reported most of DRC coltan was mined illegally and exported across the eastern borders into Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi along with other resources like gold, diamonds, cassiterite, cobalt and timber. Other routes saw DRC resources exported through Zimbabwe.

Some 85 Western companies, 18 of which were UK-registered, were accused of "directly or indirectly, deliberately or through negligence" prolonging the 1998 war to enrich individuals and fund warring factions.

Five billion dollars of assets were transferred from the DRC state mining sector to Western business networks linked to political figures and the military.

At the request of countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the UN panel instigated discussions with the listed companies, declaring in October the cases against them were "resolved" without providing reasons why.

In August 2003, journalist and novelist Alex Shoumatoff gave a speech in New York on the ecological destruction of DRC and its indigenous gorilla population due to illegal logging and mining.

He stated most coltan resources ended up in America, through Pennsylvanian-based Cabot High Performance Materials, who made $100 million a year from grinding coltan into powder for capacitors.

Shoumatoff also implicated the Carlisle Group, the US-based global private equity investment firm fronted by George Bush senior. The board of directors lists among others ex-US Secretary of State James Baker III, ex-US Defence Secretary Frank C. Carlucci, ex-UK Prime Minister John Major and until October 2001 was the home to a $2.02 million investment from the Bin Laden family.

"Carlisle's biggest customer is the American military," Shoumatoff said. "A whole lot of coltan was just used in the attack on Iraq."

capacitors are in everything. and we are screwing over people (and gorillas) to get the tantalum to run our electronics.

[jonyak]

tantalum capacitors are extremely expensive and only used in high quality electronics and military stuff due to there low value tolerance.

Most electronics you would buy from a retail store most likely uses cheap polyester, or acid and paper electrolytic capacitors.

although I have heard they are now useing them in cell phones because of the light weight and the size constraints.

[jonyak]

Electrolytics provide alternative

NIC Components can now supply a SMT aluminium electrolytic alternative to Tantalum capacitor chips from its NACE and NACZ ranges. The NACE series provides a low-cost alternative for general purpose applications while the low impedance, high ripple current NACZ range is suitable for use in high frequency applications such as in DC to DC converters and DC to AC inverters. The NACE devices have values from 0.1 to 6800µF and are rated at voltages from 4.0 to 100V DC. They can operate over the temperature range of ?40 to 85°C and have an operational life of up to 2000 hours at +85°C. The NACZ range operates between ?55 and 105°C and has values from 4.7 to 3300µF. Both series are supplied in embossed plastic carrier tape and have been designed for automatic mounting and reflow soldering.

Sorry I'm an electronics nerd and I'm trying no tto do any work today.

Edited January 25, 2007 by Guest

[phishtaper]

it raises an interesting point, tho. what natural resources will become the new oil / copper / diamonds of the 21st century, and who owns them now.

water, for sure, but what else?