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The war for conflict minerals has been going on for a long time, but there are ways to end it for good. There are minerals known as "ethically sourced" that ensure that the minerals used in the product you have bought have been mined by people that are working legally and with proper safety equipment. Also, ethically placed minerals must not have been mined in places where current conflicts are going on. If all electronic companies switched to ethically source minerals, it would force leaders in the Congo and other African countries to step up wages and improve safety conditions for workers, and eliminate child labor. In fact, one company , known as the Fairphone, has made sure that are minerals inside of the phone are sourced ethically. This is one step in the right direction to make sure that conflict minerals become no more.

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(especially in Africa) a mineral mined in an area of armed conflict and traded illicitly to finance the fighting. Some of these mineral include Tantalum, Tungsten, Tin, and Gold

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How does Tungsten Affect The Lives of People Exploited

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How does Tungsten Affect The Lives of People Exploited

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Tungsten is a conflict mineral. The people who mine this mineral in Africa are often exploited and not treated as a human being. Because of the constant need of Tungsten, the people are always oppressed and suppressed due to the military leaders that force them to work and take the money they make to buy for weapons to fuel this war even more. Also, many companies buy these minerals of militia leaders, and the money the leaders get from companies such as Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft helps fuel the war. As long as people get away with using conflict minerals to create products, the battle will continue.

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Tungsten causes problems to a humans health. If a person comes into contact with Tungsten, it will cause Rashes and reddening of the skin. If Tungsten gets into someone's eyes, it will cause irritation, reddening, and watering. If this mineral is inhaled, The person will have irritated lungs and an irritation to the mucus membrane.

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Tungsten is very rare in the first place, but current circumstances have cause the the demand of this mineral to go up and supply to go way down.

Currently, Tungsten is used the most in touch screens in electronic devices. China, who has approximately 80% of the worlds Tungsten, has shut down all Tungsten mining and exporting. In fact, they are now the leading importer of Tungsten. The next country that has the most Tungsten, Russia, uses their Tungsten for private and domestic operations in their own country. This just leaves 5 countries that mine Tungsten for the whole world, and don't have massive amounts of it. One of these countries is the Congo.

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Pierre Monet is CEO of Malaga Inc., a Montreal-based mining company with operations in Peru.
Last month, Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway unit IMC International Metalworking agreed to invest $80 million in a tungsten mining project in South Korea, which was once the world's biggest tungsten producer.

While the deal may come as a surprise to the outside world, those with knowledge of tungsten understand that it's a crucial but disappearing resource that continues to affect all of us.
A Hard Metal That's Hard To Get
Tungsten (W) is among the the world's hardest materials. The metal's ability to withstand extreme temperatures - particularly high heat - makes it irreplaceable in applications such as cemented carbide tools (which accounts for 50% of its use), "hard steel" drill bits for oil and gas exploration, rocket engine nozzles, cathode-ray tubes as well as vacuum tube filaments, and (for the time being, anyway) filaments in incandescent light bulbs. (The latter only accounts for 3% of its use.)

Increasingly, tungsten is finding its way into new technologies. Its hardness, stability and ability to withstand extreme temperatures make it desirable in the manufacturing of electrodes and components used in touch screens. With the explosion of touch screen technology in smart phones and tablet devices, demand for tungsten, which already was growing six percent annually, is increasing dramatically.

Trouble is, supply is not keeping up.

China, which has more than 80% of the world's supply of tungsten, has sharply curtailed its exports and as of now is a net importer of this precious element. China also shows no signs of loosening the reins on tungsten exports, preferring instead to use its supply for its own manufacturing applications. Ergo for the foreseeable future, the rest of the world has to look elsewhere for supply.

Russia has some, but keeps 70% of what it has for domestic use. Tungsten has also been harvested and recycled from existing devices and components, but even those sources have now reached their limits and there's no new significant supply on the horizon.

Currently, that leaves no more than five mines supplying most of the world's tungsten outside of China and Russia. Consequently, in a recent British Geological Survey report on metals of economic value on the "endangered list," tungsten was at the very top.
Why There's Limited Supply

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The World Is Running Low On Tungsten; Why You Should Care

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Guest post written by Pierre Monet Pierre Monet is CEO of Malaga Inc., a Montreal-based mining company with operations in Peru. Last month, Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway unit IMC International Metalworkingagreed to invest $80 million in a tungsten mining project in South Korea, which was once the world's biggest tungsten producer.

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When Tungsten powder dissolves in soil and water, the soil and water become acidified. This acid water and soil kills microbes and bacteria colonies in the soil, as well as killing plants in both of these ecosystems, causing an imbalance in the food chain.

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Effects of tungsten on environmental systems. - PubMed - NCBI

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Google.com
Youtube.com
IBtimes.com
LIvescience.org
Tungsten.com
Mi-Techemicals.com
Forbes.com
Nih.gov
Fairphone.com

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Tungsten in the Congo and Tungsten Exploitation 

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Tungsten in the Congo and Tungsten Exploitation 

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One of the most mineral rich countries in the world is the Democratic Republic of Congo, or the DRC. But, the DRC is also one of the poorest countries in the world.  Over the last 25 years, the Country has had the bloodiest war since WW2, and it has claimed over 5.4 million lives. The civilians in the Congo are forced to mine valuable minerals such as Tungsten for very little money, and children as young as 7 are forced to work in the mines. The money made from supplying the minerals to smelting companies is funded back into millatary efforts. Then, the Tungsten is smuggled out of the Congo and finds it's way to China and other Asian countries, where the minerals are smelted and are made ready for usage. After this, the minerals are put in electronics by children that work for companies such as Apple, Samsung, LG,  and Microsoft. An average of 2 children die to make a cell phone, and there are many cell phones in the world. Finally, these electronics are shipped to other countries to be sold in stores.

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In the middle of July, filled with curiosity and anticipation, Bibi and I packed our bags and boarded a flight to Kigali, Rwanda. After a quick stop at a tungsten mine, we got on a smaller plane to the border between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and then continued by road to our next destination: the tin mine in South Kivu, DRC, that provided the tin through the Conflict-Free Tin Initiative (CFTI) for our first Fairphones. During our week-long trip, we circled through the DRC and then back to Rwanda, visiting a total of four different mines.

This trip quite figuratively gave us a deeper understanding of how minerals are sourced, specifically tin, tungsten and tantalum. Besides experiencing the mines firsthand, our goal was to get a more thorough understanding of the route a mineral takes from mine to component and to explore our next steps in adding value throughout the mineral supply chain. To do so, we needed to meet the stakeholders involved and grasp the challenges they are facing. Our visit also provided an opportunity to record what we saw and offer more insight into the mining methods and processes.

For a brief impression of our visit, please take a moment to watch this short film:

Experiencing the difference between artisanal and semi-industrial mines

After visiting the various mining operations, one of our key takeaways was the visible difference between artisanal and semi-industrial mining. Artisanal mining is carried out with minimal or no machinery - meaning it relies primarily on manual labor, with 'diggers' creating narrow but deep, steep tunnels. Semi-industrial mines use machinery and mechanisation in operating the mine, but manual labor is still required - in a more organized and structured operation.

Of the mines we have visited, those that are operated by a company are more often semi-industrial mines. Artisanal mining still occurs widely in the DRC, while in Rwanda purely artisanal mining is rare.

Washing tin in artisanal mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tin: Kalimbi mine site, South Kivu, DRC

In the DRC, we first visited a tin mine in Kalimbi, in the province of South Kivu. This mine supplied the tin used in the soldering paste for the Fairphone, which is part of the conflict-free tin initiative (CFTI). At first glance, the working conditions appear shocking. This mine is purely artisanal, so all the work is done manually and miners burrow through tunnels without (much) protective gear. Production output is lower than semi-industrial mines and health and safety regulations are a challenge to implement at an operational level.

While the conditions seem rather undeveloped, one advantage is that through the Conflict-Free Tin Initiative (CFTI), this mine site is able to export internationally under the Dodd-Frank Act. Being part of the initiative means that the mine is monitored by mining cooperatives together with civil society members and government officials. This was the first (and for a long time, the only) mine site in South Kivu that has been validated as "conflict-free" and has implemented a traceability system (which ensures that the revenue from the mining activities doesn't finance militias).

As we walked into a tiny wooden office in such a remote area, we were impressed to see a copy of the " OECD due diligence guidance for responsible supply chains of minerals " being studied. And as we talked with the "tunnel captains" on-site, we learned about the awareness among mine workers on the importance of respecting human rights, such as no child labor.

Tantalum: Rubaya mine site, North Kivu, DRC

The other mine site we visited in the DRC is a privately owned conflict-free tantalum mine in the North Kivu province. (To refresh your memory, tantalum is used in capacitors on printed circuit boards). The site we visited combines artisanal with semi-industrial methods. Machines create terrasses or layers, turning the area into an open pit mine. The miners don't work in dangerous tunnels but outside in the open air, making this method of mining safer for the mine workers. The mine workers at this site also wore protective gear (boots, helmets, etc.).

This level of development already influences the atmosphere at the site and shows a direct impact on the working conditions. The significant differences from the tin mine in South Kivu were immediately apparent. The infrastructure is more advanced and support facilities for the community, like a small on-site medical facility.

At the moment, the conflict-free tantalum in our Fairphones' capacitors are sourced through the Solutions for Hope initiative and comes from the DRC's southern province of Katanga, so not the mine we visited. The visit to the mine site in North Kivu enabled us to meet more people in tantalum mining and research for other opportunities for future Fairphones.

Tungsten: Kigali and Musanze sites, Rwanda

Tungsten is a heavy metal that is used in vibration motors (yes, the stuff that makes your phones shake). We visited two tungsten sites in Rwanda - one close to Kigali, and the other close to Musanze. These privately-owned, company-run mines were certainly the safest, most organized semi-industrial mines we saw during our trip. That the overall infrastructure is more developed and mechanized, is apparent for example in the way everyone (including visitors like us) wears appropriate safety gear, like protective clothing, boots and hardhats. The mines are also far more advanced from a social perspective resulting in better working conditions. Currently, a micro-finance and insurance opportunity for employees is also being developed.

Washed tungsten.
After a period of decreased tungsten exports from Rwanda, there seems to be greater international interest to return to this region. Both of the mines we visited have a traceability scheme in place and are potential candidates for components using tungsten in future Fairphones.
Traceability and the importance of conflict-free mining

Whether artisanal or semi-industrial, all of the mines we visited have one thing in common - a traceability scheme to trace the minerals to their source. At each site, every bag of minerals is provided with an uniquely numbered tag to identify the source and then noted in a logbook. These tag numbers are recorded in a database and in the case an incident is reported concerning certain bags, these tag numbers are flagged in this database and cannot be reused. While the system might appear basic, it represents multiple levels of control and requires significant training and a change in mindset for those involved in the trade.

Weighing tin in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This traceability system gives manufacturers and smelters the option to source minerals from mines that are validated as conflict-free and ensures that the profits don't support armed groups. It is one step forward in formalizing the mining sector and making sourcing from this region a viable option for manufacturers.
Traceability tags on tungsten bags, Rwanda.

We believe it is essential to continue to support these types of initiatives and not only source from "easier" regions where no conflict exists.

However, a comment from local stakeholders is that very few mine sites can afford resources (eg, money, infrastructure, location) to implement a traceability scheme, even though they have been validated conflict-free. A lack of a strong, sustained demand or traceable export routes, often drive these artisanal miners into illegality. Local, national, regional and international actors must work together to provide proper incentives and develop necessary infrastructure for due diligence and responsible mining in these remote sites. Potential negative effects of legislation should be addressed so that the income from the mineral trade spurs greater stability and development for the mineworkers and surrounding communities.

Moving beyond conflict-free for even greater impact

The semi-industrial mines that are mostly privately owned show progressive development in terms of working conditions and health and safety measures, which in turn proves that more responsible sourcing from the African Great Lakes Region is possible. However, the working conditions in the artisanal mines that have been validated conflict-free in the DRC, are still far from optimal. It is important to keep in mind that responsible mining requires a step-by-step process to get people trained and familiarized with traceability and transparency measures to effectively implement basic human rights principles.

Drawing awareness to the issues in the mining sector and using conflict-free minerals was our first step. So far, we have managed to incorporate conflict-free tin and tantalum in our phones. For our next phone we hope to incorporate additional conflict-free minerals like tungsten, but that also depends on identifying manufacturers that are willing to use these minerals in the components we require. We also want to move beyond conflict-free to make an even greater impact on local communities. That means finding responsible business partners who are addressing the issues in mining at a broader scale, including child labor, health and safety, wages and general working conditions. As we continue to explore the options, we'll be sure to keep you updated.

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Research trip: Visiting tin, tantalum and tungsten mines - Fairphone

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In the middle of July, filled with curiosity and anticipation, Bibi and I packed our bags and boarded a flight to Kigali, Rwanda. After a quick stop at a tungsten mine, we got on a smaller plane to the border between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and then continued by road to our ...

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Tungsten was finally isolated by brothers Fausto and Juan Jose de Elhuyar in 1783, in Spain, by reduction of acidified wolframite with charcoal. The element name comes from the Swedish words 'tung sten' meaning heavy stone. The chemical symbol, W, comes from the original name of the element, Wolfram. Since then, the uses of Tungsten have been developed from usage in light bulb filament to the mineral element that makes our electronics vibrate.

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A kinetic bombardment is the hypothetical act of attacking a planetary surface with an inert projectile, where the destructive force comes from the kinetic energy of the projectile impacting at very high velocities. The concept is often encountered in science fiction and originated during the Cold War.

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Congo's conflict minerals leave a trail of destruction as they make their way from the mines in eastern Congo to the mobile phone in your pocket. How does the process work? What is the human cost? What can consumers do to help end the violence being fueled by Congo's illicit mineral trade?

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Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A smartphone, a lightbulb, an underwire bra and a pair of earrings: These everyday items contain materials that human rights groups say help fuel one of the world's bloodiest conflicts. The so-called conflict minerals are tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold, mined and extracted from ore often in war-torn areas such as eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where the mineral trade has been linked to armed groups that regularly commit mass atrocities, including rape and murder.

U.S. firms are spending millions to comply with a complex provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that requires companies to divulge their use of any of the four conflict minerals and disclose whether they originated in Congo or surrounding countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The 5-year-old rule has increased the demand for conflict-free minerals and has redirected some of the cash flow away from armed groups in eastern Congo. But recent reports revealed most companies that filed the disclosures were unable to source the minerals, and experts said a convoluted supply chain, costly audits and ongoing conflict in Congo's mineral-rich east have created hurdles. The difficulty to comply with the provision also has raised fears some companies might choose to sever trade with the world's poorest country, where corruption and violence are rife.

"There are these cultural or practicality issues that go beyond just the fact that Congo doesn't have passable roads. There's limitations or constraints wherever you look," said Chris Bayer, an independent research consultant who specializes in conflict minerals. "I think it would turn off a company. It's difficult for them to get quality data."

U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in July 2010 in response to the Great Recession. Later that year, Congress enacted Section 1502 of the act to impose additional reporting requirements on U.S. companies to disclose their use of "conflict minerals" if they were "necessary to the functionality or production of a product" manufactured by those companies.

Congress passed the rule "because of concerns that the exploitation and trade of these metals by armed groups was helping to finance conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is contributing to an emergency humanitarian crisis," according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The rule also requires a company to determine whether any of its minerals originated in the other "covered countries" of South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Angola and Central African Republic.

'Once It Hits The Smelter, The Origins Are Gone'
Bayer studied the latest reports filed with the SEC for Tulane University in New Orleans and Assent Compliance, a New York consulting firm. The findings published in August found that about 90 percent of the 1,262 companies that filed the required conflict mineral disclosures last year said they couldn't determine whether their products were conflict-free. Two-thirds of the companies, including Google and Amazon, did not define the country of origin of the metals or their derivatives. Only 314 companies, or less than 24 percent, reached full compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act mandate. About 43 percent failed to disclose how they performed due diligence, Bayer said.

"Either they don't have the data or they don't have the confidence in the data to actually disclose the country of origin," he said in a telephone interview. "They're just working with what they've got."

Tracking these metals is no easy task, of course. Companies must go through the many tiers in their corporate supply chains, from the mines to trading houses to exporters to transit countries to refiners. It's through this supply chain that Apple gets the tantalum for its iPhone, that General Electric obtains tungsten for its lightbulbs, that Victoria's Secret gets tin for its underwire bras and a jeweler obtains gold for a pair of 14-karat earrings.

Conflict minerals are found in mines around the world, but the spotlight is often on the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has has some of the richest mineral deposits in the world. The country produces 20 to 50 percent of the world's supply of tantalum, according to National Geographic. These minerals pass through the hands of various actors within each tier, as well as numerous middlemen, as they are shipped out to processing plants in neighboring countries and East Asia. There are more than 2 million artisanal miners in eastern Congo alone that extract small amounts of metal from ores, and the smelters provide materials to various industries.

"Once it hits the smelter, the origins are gone. You can't tell where the metal came from," said Jeff Schwartz, a University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law professor who also researched the conflict minerals data submitted by companies to U.S. securities regulators. "There's a lot of opportunities for gray or black markets to develop."

Conflict Behind The Minerals
Armed groups and the Congolese army have seized control of countless mines in the eastern region since the late 1990s, when the Central African nation plunged into the deadliest conflict since World War II. The Second Congo War officially ended in 2003, but reports of mass killings, rapes and other crimes committed by rebels and government forces have continued unabated in the east, where much of the region remains under control of armed groups who have attempted to fill a power vacuum. The war and its aftermath killed more than 5 million people and displaced millions of others.

All sides of the conflict have been accused of attacking communities in close proximity to mines and other resources in order to fund their operations. International human rights groups say government troops and armed rebels have recruited child laborers to work in the mines, where working conditions are dangerous and dismal.

Holly Dranginis, policy analyst at Enough Project, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that aims to end genocide and crimes against humanity, said some U.S. firms are overwhelmed by the task of examining their conflict minerals supply chains, especially in war-torn Congo where corruption is rampant. But over time, conducting due diligence can produce positive results for both the company and the Congolese.

An investigative report by the Enough Project studied 14 mining locations in eastern Congo that produce three key minerals used in electronics, autos and an array of other products. Over a period of five months, the 2014 report found that the Dodd-Frank reform was forcing some companies to scrutinize and clean up their supply chains. Meanwhile, armed groups and Congolese army troops ceded control of two-thirds of the mines surveyed as the country's military launched initial restructuring. Congolese miners at these sites were able to earn 40 percent more.

"It is a really big endeavor to go through and investigate supply chains as a company. The process itself begins with conversations and I think that's one thing some companies don't totally understand. It just takes time and commitment," said Dranginis, who focuses on Congo. "Contacting your first-tier suppliers and ask them what they know about the next tier down, and you do that again with next tier and the next. It's really almost an investigative process to find out who the actors are."

'Everyone Has A Role To Play'
The process is also costly and some smaller companies may not have the bandwidth to audit their suppliers, experts said. U.S. publicly traded companies spent about $709 million and a combined 6 million working hours last year in order to comply with the filing requirements to disclose conflict minerals in their supply chains, according to the research by Tulane University and Assent Compliance.

Companies may decide to pull out of Congo altogether if they can't handle the outlays or if the conflict on the ground worsens. This could have a detrimental impact on Congo's struggling economy, which relies heavily on mining, experts said. Mining accounts for 12 percent of GDP in Africa's third-largest country, according to estimates from the World Bank. However, the economic impact is much larger because of the businesses and services that support the industry, and much of the activity occurs in the informal sector and is not reflected in GDP data.

The Congolese government and military are rife with graft, and the November presidential election could offer an opportunity for change. But it also could stir political and ethnic tensions in the incredibly large and diverse country, which could exacerbate progress made on transparency and the conflict minerals trade, experts said.

"It's important that the controls and due diligence measures don't come at such a cost that it doesn't make it economically viable to source from the region," said Mike Loch, president of Responsible Trade LLC , which consults entities seeking to implement due diligence when the products they produce contain conflict minerals.

Loch, who worked nearly 30 years at Motorola Solutions as a director of sustainability with roles in conflict minerals, said the Dodd-Frank provision alone will not solve the conflict minerals issue in the Democratic Republic of Congo or its surrounding countries. A company can conduct due diligence but it's up to the governments in these countries to increase transparency, provide security and create an environment that will attract further foreign investment, he said.

"It's a company's obligation to source responsibly. It's a government's obligation to provide security and provide the basic needs for the population. It's up to civil society to provide oversight and raise awareness on issues," Loch said. "Everyone has a role to play in solving this issue and if any one of those entities does not meet their obligation, it's more than likely to fail."

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Congo's Conflict Minerals: US Companies Struggle To Trace Tantalum, Tungsten, Tin, Gold In Their Products

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A smartphone, a lightbulb, an underwire bra and a pair of earrings: These everyday items contain materials that human rights groups say help fuel one of the world's bloodiest conflicts.

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Tungsten is found in Africa, China, South Korea, Bolivia, Great Britain, Russia, The United States, the acing and other African countries, as well as Canada. However, 80% of the world's Tungsten is located in China. Below are some of the nations with the leading amounts of Tungsten in the world.

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Tungsten is used in many ways. Some of these uses include:
- Heat resistant lubricant that can survive temperatures of 932 degrees F without melting
-Used in Television wiring
-Bullets and missles for the millitary to use in "Kinetic Bombardment"
-Light Bulb Filament
-X-ray Filament
-Spacecraft Applications
-Electrical Furnaces
-Used in the Mining and Gas industries to create high powered drills and cutting tools
-Used as the blade for a painless dental drill that spins at ultra high speeds
- Widley used in florescent lighting
-Used to make Cell Phones vibrate, as well as other electronic devices

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- This mineral is also known as Wolfram
-The word "Tungsten" means Heavy Stone in Swedish
-Atomic Number=74
-Periodic symbol:W
-Melting Point: 6,191 degrees F
-This mineral is one of the toughest minerals in nature
-This mineral can begin combustion when turned into a powder
-Tungsten has 26 natural isotopes
-Color: Silver-White
-Used due to it's strength and durability
-Tungsten is resistant to corrosion, has the highest melting point and density among all minerals