THE SMARTPHONE, THE METAL, THE WAR IN DRC

GOMA. − There is a good chance that inside your mobile phone is a miniscule amount of a metal that started its journey buried in the earth of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where a war is currently raging.

It may even be directly connected to the M23 rebel group.

The tantalum within your device weighs less than half of the average garden pea but is essential for the efficient functioning of a smartphone, and almost all other sophisticated electronic devices.

The unique properties of this rare, blue-grey, lustrous metal – including being able to hold a high charge compared to its size, while operating in a range of temperatures – make it an ideal material for tiny capacitors, which temporarily store energy.

It is also mined in Rwanda, Brazil and Nigeria but at least 40% – and maybe more – of the element’s global supply comes from DR Congo and some of the key mining areas are now under the control of the M23.

The current wave of fighting has been going on for months, but the rebels grabbed attention with the assault on the vital trading and transport hub of Goma.

The city, bordering Rwanda, is a regional centre for the mining business.

Over the past year, the M23 has made rapid advances across the mineral-rich east of DR Congo, taking areas where coltan – the ore from which tantalum is extracted – is mined.

Mining has become a crucial source of income for the M23, paying for fighters and weapons.

Last April, it seized Rubaya, the town at the heart of the country’s coltan industry.

Mineral extraction in this region is not in the hands of multinational conglomerates – instead thousands of individuals toil in open pits that honeycomb the landscape, or underground, in extremely unsafe and unhealthy conditions.

Once the M23 moved into Rubaya, the rebels established what a UN group of experts described as a “state-like administration”, issuing permits to the diggers and traders and demanding an annual fee of US$25 and US$250 respectively.

The M23 also charges a levy of US$7 on each kilogramme of coltan.

The UN group of experts estimated that as a result the M23 earns about US$800,000 a month from coltan taxation in Rubaya.

That money is almost certainly then used to fund the rebellion.